The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler
YMSM 130
Portrait of Miss Grace Alexander
Date
Portrait of Miss Grace Alexander probably dates from between 1872 and 1874. 1
Sketch for 'Portrait of Miss Grace Alexander', British Museum
Whistler was commissioned by William Cleverly Alexander (1840-1916), London, to paint his youngest daughter Grace, and made pen drawings of the proposed composition, Sketch for 'Portrait of Miss Grace Alexander' m0507 and Sketch for 'Portrait of Miss Grace Alexander' m0506, which – judging from the butterfly signature on the latter – date from 1873 or slightly later. There is no further record of the portrait.
Images
Portrait of Miss Grace Alexander, Whereabouts unknown
Sketch for 'Portrait of Miss Grace Alexander', British Museum
Sketch for 'Portrait of Miss Grace Alexander', British Museum
Subject
Titles
One title has been suggested:
- 'Portrait of Miss Grace Alexander' (1980, YMSM). 2
Description
Sketch for 'Portrait of Miss Grace Alexander', British Museum
Sketch for 'Portrait of Miss Grace Alexander', British Museum
A pen drawing, Sketch for 'Portrait of Miss Grace Alexander' m0507, shows a little girl in a short dress with dark bodice and stockings, seen full face, holding in front of her a large hat with a feather, and standing in front of draped curtains. Another pen drawing, Sketch for 'Portrait of Miss Grace Alexander' m0506, is similar, but she is seen wearing the hat. She stands in front of a curtain. The canvas would have been in vertical format.
Sitter
Grace Alexander was born in 1867, the youngest daughter of the London banker William Cleverly Alexander (1840-1916) and Rachel Agnes Alexander née Lucas.
Whistler painted Grace's older sisters, Cicely and May (Miss May Alexander y127 Study for the Head of Miss Cicely H. Alexander y128, Harmony in Grey and Green: Miss Cicely Alexander y129) in 1872-1873.
Technique
Composition
Sketch for 'Portrait of Miss Grace Alexander', British Museum
The drawing suggests that Whistler planned a portrait comparable to the existing portrait of Grace's elder sister in Harmony in Grey and Green: Miss Cicely Alexander y129.
Technique
Unknown.
Conservation History
Unknown.
Frame
Unknown.
History
Provenance
- 1872/1873: commissioned by William Cleverly Alexander (1840-1916).
The painting may have been started but was never completed.
Exhibitions
None.
Bibliography
Catalogues Raisonnés
- Young, Andrew McLaren, Margaret F. MacDonald, Robin Spencer, and Hamish Miles, The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler, New Haven and London, 1980 (cat. no. 130) as 'Portrait of Miss Grace Alexander', drawings repr. plates 400-01.
- MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. nos. 506-07).
Authored by Whistler
- None.
Catalogues 1855-1905
- None.
Journals 1855-1905
- None.
Monographs
- None.
Books on Whistler
- Duret, Théodore, Histoire de J. McN. Whistler et de son oeuvre, Paris, 1904, p. 34, drawing repr. p. 39.
- Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Life of James McNeill Whistler, 2 vols, London and Philadelphia, 1908, vol. 1, drawings repr. f.p. 174.
Books, General
- None.
Catalogues 1906-Present
- None.
Journals 1906-Present
- None.
Websites
- None.
Unpublished
- None.
Other
- None.
Notes:
1: YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 130).
2: YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 130).