The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler
YMSM 158
Portrait of Mr Mann
Date
Portrait of Mr Mann was recorded in 1873.
On 21 September 1873 Samuel Putnam Avery (1822-1904) noted in his diary, 'Called on Whistler who was painting a portrait of Mr. Mann.' 1 Unfortunately there are no further references to this portrait.
Images
Portrait of Mr Mann, Whereabouts unknown
Subject
Titles
Only one title has been suggested:
- 'Portrait of Mr Mann' (1980, YMSM). 2
Description
A portrait of a man.
Sitter
In 1860 Whistler etched Mr Mann [73]. It had been catalogued by Howard Mansfield (1849-1938) as 'Mr. Mann' because Whistler wrote 'Mr. Mann' on an impression in the collection of Samuel Putnam Avery (1822-1904). 3 No Christian name was given. However, Lt Col. N. Newnham Davis queried Mann's title, claiming it was a portrait of his father, H. N. Davis, etched by Whistler 'in the studio of a mutual friend, Mr. Mann'. He added, 'Mr Mann was tall and lanky and sombre in expression, my father was fat, pleasant-looking and generally smiling.' 4
It is possible that the sitter for the 1860 etching was the artist Joshua Hargrave Sams Mann (1826-1887) who was then 35. 5 If he was also the sitter for an oil portrait in 1873, he would then have been 47. However, there is absolutely no proof of this identification.
Technique
Technique
Assumed to have been an oil painting but probably not completed.
History
Provenance
Unknown.
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. 158) as 'Portrait of Mr Mann'.
Authored by Whistler
- None.
Catalogues 1855-1905
- None.
Journals 1855-1905
- None.
Monographs
- None.
Books on Whistler
- None.
Books, General
- Beaufort, M. F., H. L. Kleinfield, and J. K. Welcher, (eds) The Diaries 1871-1882 of Samuel P. Avery, Art Dealer,, New York, 1979.
Catalogues 1906-Present
- None.
Journals 1906-Present
- Davis, N. Newnham, 'Concerning a Whistler Portrait "M Mann" or "Mr Davis"?', Print Collector's Quarterly, V, April 1915, p. 256.
Websites
- Margaret F. MacDonald, Grischka Petri, Meg Hausberg, and Joanna Meacock, James McNeill Whistler: The Etchings, a catalogue raisonné, University of Glasgow, 2012, website at http://etchings.arts.gla.ac.uk (G.73).
Unpublished
- None.
Other
- None.
Notes:
1: Beaufort 1979 [more].
2: YMSM 1980 [more], cat. no. 158.
3: Mansfield 1909 [more]
4: Margaret F. MacDonald, Grischka Petri, Meg Hausberg, and Joanna Meacock, James McNeill Whistler: The Etchings, a catalogue raisonné, University of Glasgow, 2012, on-line website at http://etchings.arts.gla.ac.uk (G.73).
5: Ibid.; to complicate matters further, it was also suggested that the sitter for the etching was Henry Newnham Davis (1826-1873).