The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Nocturne in Grey and Gold dates from the 1870s, possibly between 1872 and 1878. ¹ It is assumed to date from between 1871 and 1878, when most of Whistler's Nocturnes were painted.

On 5 November 1878 Whistler asked Algernon Graves (1845-1922) to send a 'Nocturne in Grey and Gold' from their galleries to Lucas (Luke) Alexander Ionides (1837-1924), and this picture was 'received and sold' by Charles Augustus Howell (1840?-1890). ²

Images

Subject

Titles

One title has been suggested:

• 'Nocturne in Grey and Gold' (1878, Whistler). ³
• 'Nocturne in Grey and Gold' (1980, YMSM). ⁴

'Nocturne in Grey and Gold' is the preferred title.

Description

According to Williamson, it showed 'Battersea in a fog'. ⁵

Site

Battersea on the river Thames in London.

Technique

Technique

Unknown.

Conservation History

Unknown.

Frame

Unknown.

History

Provenance

• 1878: bought by Lucas (Luke) Alexander Ionides (1837-1924).
• 1892/1893: bought by the artist.

According to Williamson, a painting of 'Battersea in a fog' was accepted by Algernon Graves (1845-1922), London printseller, from Charles Augustus Howell (1840?-1890), as security for a loan. ⁶

In 1878, Whistler, through C. A. Howell, deposited 'two nocturnes of Battersea Reach', and Arrangement in Grey and Black: Portrait of the Painter's Mother y101, with H. Graves & Co. as security for a loan of £100, with interest of 10 per cent per annum. ⁷

Less than a month later, on 5 November 1878 Whistler asked Algernon Graves to send a 'Nocturne in Grey and Gold' from their galleries to Lucas (Luke) Alexander Ionides (1837-1924), and this picture, according to C. A. Howell was 'received and sold' by him. ⁸ On 6 November 1878 Howell acknowledged receipt of the two Nocturnes and substitution of Arrangement in Brown and Black: Portrait of Miss Rosa Corder y203 as security for the loan. ⁹ On 5 December 1878 Whistler wrote to Luke Ionides, who had bought the 'little Nocturne' from him for £15, suggesting that he should return it and they would share any profit if Whistler managed to sell it to Mrs Fitzgerald, as suggested in a letter Whistler had just received from Lord Archibald Campbell (1846-1913). ¹⁰ On the same day Whistler asked Walter Theodore Watts-Dunton (1832-1914) to bring Mrs Fitzgerald to see the 'Nocturne'. ¹¹ However, there is no further record of Mrs Fitzgerald buying anything, so the sale probably fell through.

Algernon Graves later described the nocturnes as 'the one sold to Stratford and one you had away I think - it was delivered I believe for your order to a gentleman in Kensington.' ¹² Whistler was still paying off the debt for the Nocturnes in 1883: on 26 April 1883 he paid £50 towards to £85 advance, leaving £35 plus 9.18. 4. interest still owing. ¹³

In January 1893 Whistler wrote to his sister-in-law Nellie (Mrs W. Whistler, née Ionides) that he had retrieved the Nocturne: 'I have got the Nocturne that was Luke's!!! - It is a beauty! and he was an idiot! - I wish you would find out what he gave me for it? - I think it was twenty pounds.' ¹⁴ It is not known whether Whistler had bought it direct from Ionides, nor when the artist sold it, nor what happened thereafter.

Although Ionides later recorded the story of a 'Symphony in grey and gold' that he had bought from Whistler, his story differs in several points from the history of the painting being discussed here and appears to refer to a later purchase (see Symphony in Grey and Gold y143). ¹⁵

Nocturne: Westminster – Grey and Gold, Whereabouts unknown

Nocturne: Grey and Silver, Philadelphia Museum of Art

The history of Nocturne in Grey and Gold could fill gaps in the known history of two small Nocturnes, Nocturne: Westminster - Grey and Gold y144 and Nocturne: Grey and Silver y156, but it cannot conclusively be identified with either.

Exhibitions

• Unknown.

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. 155) as 'Nocturne in Grey and Gold'.

Authored by Whistler

• None.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• Unknown.

Journals 1855-1905

• None.

Monographs

• None.

Books on Whistler

• None.

Books, General

• Williamson, George Charles, Murray Marks and his Friends, London and New York, 1919, p. 123.

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.