The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler
YMSM 143
Symphony in Grey and Gold
Date
Symphony in Grey and Gold may date from between 1868 and 1878. 1
According to Lucas (Luke) Alexander Ionides (1837-1924), Whistler sold him 'A Symphony in grey and gold' in the early 1880s. 2 The title of 'Symphony' was more usual for a figure subject than for a landscape, and might indicate an earlier date, in the late 1860s. However, if it was a foggy or evening scene, it could date from the late 1860s or 1870s.
It is possible that it is Nocturne: Westminster - Grey and Gold y144, which is also difficult to date.
Images
Symphony in Grey and Gold, Whereabouts unknown
Subject
Titles
Only one title has been suggested:
- 'A Symphony in grey and gold' (1924, L. Ionides). 3
- 'Symphony in Grey and Gold' (1980, YMSM). 4
The 1980 catalogue added capital letters, 'Symphony in Grey and Gold', for the sake of consistency.
Description
Unknown.
Site
Unknown.
Technique
Technique
Unknown.
Conservation History
Unknown.
Frame
Unknown.
History
Provenance
- 1880/1885: sold by Whistler to Lucas (Luke) Alexander Ionides (1837-1924);
- 1900/1905: sold to an art dealer.
According to Lucas (Luke) Alexander Ionides (1837-1924),
'In the early eighties he [Whistler] came to me one day bringing a picture, and offered it to me for £30. I bought it, and some twenty years after, when I needed money, I sold it for £150.' 5
He sold it to a dealer who showed it to the Duchess of Edinburgh, and she greatly admired it, although the dealer's assistant had placed it on the easel upside down: according to Ionides, this painting, 'A Symphony in grey and gold' was later sold for £5000. 6
This painting may actually be Nocturne: Westminster - Grey and Gold y144 but the evidence is not conclusive.
Given Whistler's money problems in the 1870s, it is possible that the first sale took place around 1878 rather than in the early 1880s. In fact, it could be the 'little Nocturne' sold by Whistler to Luke Ionides for £15, according to Whistler, and which he offered to resell, for a share of the profits, to Lord Archibald Campbell (1846-1913) on 5 December 1878. 7 But since Whistler's statements do not exactly match the story told by Ionides it seems more likely that Ionides in fact bought two Nocturnes from Whistler (see Nocturne in Grey and Gold y155 and also Nocturne: Grey and Silver y156.
Exhibitions
- There is no record of an exhibition.
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. 143) as 'Symphony in Grey and Gold'.
Authored by Whistler
- None.
Catalogues 1855-1905
- None.
Journals 1855-1905
- None.
Monographs
- None.
Books on Whistler
- None.
Books, General
- None.
Catalogues 1906-Present
- None.
Journals 1906-Present
- Ionides, Luke, 'Memories: Whistler in the Quartier Latin', Transatlantic Review, vol. 1, January 1924, pp. 37-52, at p. 51.
Websites
- None.
Unpublished
- None.
Other
- None.
Notes:
1: YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 143).
2: Ionides 1924 [more], p. 51.
3: Ionides 1924 [more], at p. 51.
4: YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 143).
5: Ionides 1924 [more], at p. 51.
6: Ibid.
7: Whistler to Ionides, GUW #07839.