The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Cremorne may date from between 1875 and 1877 when other Cremorne subjects were painted. ¹ The gardens closed to the public in 1877.

On 18 September 1875, Whistler's mother Anna Matilda Whistler (1804-1881) mentioned a painting 'lately finished of Cremorne Gardens at Chelsea.' ²

Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket, Detroit Institute of Arts

Whistler's paintings of Cremorne include Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket y170, which was exhibited at the Dudley Gallery in November 1875 and might well be the painting to which his mother referred. The Cremorne paintings became security for Whistler's debts, and some were destroyed at the time of his bankruptcy.

Images

Subject

Titles

Only one title is known:

• 'Cremorne' (1877, Whistler). ³
• 'Cremorne' (YMSM, 1980). ⁴

Description

Unknown.

Site

Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket, Detroit Institute of Arts

Cremorne Gardens were pleasure gardens in Chelsea, on the Thames, in London. Whistler's Cremorne subjects included Cremorne, No. 1 y163, Cremorne Gardens, No. 2 y164, Nocturne: Cremorne Gardens, No. 3 y165, Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Gardens y166, Nocturne: Black and Gold - The Fire Wheel y169, and the famous (or notorious) Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket y170.

Technique

Technique

Unknown.

Conservation History

Unknown.

Frame

Unknown.

History

Provenance

• 1877: Alfred Chapman (1839-1917) of Liverpool.

At some time, probably around October or November 1877, Whistler offered Chapman 'two Cremornes' for 80 gns. ⁵

On 2 November 1877 Whistler paid Charles Augustus Howell (1840?-1890) £9.1.0 as a commission on the sale or for the delivery of a painting called 'Cremorne' to the Liverpool collector, Alfred Chapman. ⁶

Several paintings owned by Chapman have not yet been identified. Since the early history of all Whistler's Nocturnes of Cremorne is elusive, Cremorne y168 might have been any one of them.

They include Cremorne, No. 1 y163, Cremorne Gardens, No. 2 y164, Nocturne: Cremorne Gardens, No. 3 y165, Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Gardens y166, Nocturne in Black and Gold y167, Cremorne y168, Nocturne: Black and Gold - The Fire Wheel y169, and, perhaps the most likely, Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket y170).

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. 168) as 'Cremorne'.

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

• None.

Websites

• None.

Unpublished

• None.

Other

• None.