The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Nocturne has been dated about 1875/1877. ¹

It is difficult to date, but the technique – the lack of imprimatura and the lack of paint runs – could argue for an early date. ²

Nocturne, The Hunterian

Nocturne in Blue and Gold: Valparaiso, Freer Gallery of Art

Nocturne in Blue and Silver: The Lagoon, Venice, Boston Museum of Fine Arts

The composition is comparable to Whistler's Valparaiso nocturnes of 1866, such as Nocturne in Blue and Gold: Valparaiso Bay y076 (which was probably completed in the late 1870s), and the technique of his Venetian Nocturnes of 1879/1880, such as Nocturne in Blue and Silver: The Lagoon,Venice y212. A date in the late 1870s is most likely.

Images

Subject

Titles

Only one title has been suggested:

• 'Nocturne' (1973, Colnaghi). ³
• 'Nocturne' (1980, YMSM). ⁴

Description

Nocturne, The Hunterian

A nocturnal scene in vertical format. The view is from a height, looking down at a pier or jetty or promenade at lower left, which cuts diagonally across the corner. Beyond and to right is an expanse of water with sailing ships or barges seen faintly. In the distance at left are the silhouettes of buildings and chimneys reflected in the water. There appears to be a bridge in the far distance.

Site

Possibly the Thames, London – it may represent the Westminster Reach of the river – although other suggestions include Valparaiso and Venice. Grieve suggested that Nocturne might be a view from the Casa Jankowitz looking east towards the Public Gardens, with the Lido in the distance. ⁵

Technique

Technique

Nocturne , The Hunterian

The canvas is roughly equivalent to the French 'toile n. 10' (55 x 38cm) and may have been acquired in Paris. It has a weave of about 12-13 threads per centimetre in both directions, and is a commercially pre-primed canvas. Professor Townsend adds:

'The white priming is a single layer of lead white with a trace of chalk and barium sulphate, full of lead soap aggregates, which makes it appear more transparent, applied to a glue-sized canvas. Single-layer primings are more commonly found on French canvases. The priming is cracked, and grey paint at the left edge has flowed into it. Rubbing-down reveals only white spots. The grey paint forms much of the composition, with blue paint applied on top for finishing, but it is not an imprimatura. The grey paint includes vermilion, yellow ochre, natural ultramarine and bone black.

The blue paint is applied very thinly, without rubbing-down, that is, alla prima. It too includes lead soap aggregates, suggesting the use of a drier. This relates it to Whistler’s 'sauce', but it is less runny than the paints of the later 1870s and onwards.' ⁶

The little blobs of light and streaks of reflections were applied with small, rounded brushes. The mast on the right was originally much taller.

The paint runs 2-3 mm over the edges at left and right, but there are no dribbles to suggest it was painted on an easel: it is more likely that it was laid flat for painting. ⁷

Conservation History

Whistler’s natural resin varnish was thin and brush-applied, and is almost absent at the outer edges. The painting has been lined very carefully with wax/resin, and the original stretcher was re-used. This suggests a treatment in the mid-20th century rather than in Whistler’s lifetime. There is a thicker natural resin varnish on top, likely dating from the lining. ⁸

Frame

Nocturne, The Hunterian

Nocturne, frame detail

Nocturne, frame detail

Partial Flat Whistler frame with panel painted with a seigaha (waves) pattern, signed with a partial butterfly. Although decorated and signed by or for the artist, it is not the original frame for this painting. ⁹

History

Provenance

• 1903: in Whistler's studio at his death in 1903 and bequeathed to his ward and executrix, Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958);
• 1958: bequeathed by her to the University of Glasgow.

It is not known whether Whistler retained this painting at the time of his bankruptcy in 1879 or regained possession of it later, or indeed, whether it was painted or touched up later.

Exhibitions

• None, as far as is known, in Whistler's lifetime.

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. 172), plate 97, as 'Nocturne'.

Authored by Whistler

• None.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• None.

Journals 1855-1905

• None.

Monographs

• None.

Books on Whistler

• Curry, David Park, James McNeill Whistler: Uneasy Pieces, New York, 2004, frame detail repr. p. 206.
• Grieve, Alastair, Whistler's Venice, New Haven and London, 2000, p. 124.

Books, General

• None.

Catalogues 1906-Present

• Young, A. McLaren, Glasgow University's Pictures, Colnaghi, London, 1973 (cat. no. 75) as 'Nocturne'.
• Sutton, Denys, and Martin Hopkinson, ホイスラー展. Whistler Exhibition in Japan, Tokyo, 1987 (cat. no. 13).
• Watanabe, Toshio, Japan and Britain. An Aesthetic Dialogue 1850-1930, Barbican Art Gallery, London, and Setagaya Art Museum, Tokyo, 1991, p. 107 (cat. no. 71).
• Dorment, Richard, and Margaret F. MacDonald, James McNeill Whistler, Tate Gallery, London, Musée d’Orsay, Paris, and National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1994-1995 (cat. no. 51) repr.
• Merrill, Linda, et al., After Whistler: The Artist and His Influence on American Painting, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, 2003, pp. 33, 45 note 10.
• MacDonald, Margaret, and Patricia de Montfort, An American in London: Whistler and the Thames, Dulwich Picture Gallery, Addison Gallery of American Art, Freer Gallery of Art, 2013-2014 (cat. no. 67).
• Ayako Ono, ホイッスラー展. James McNeill Whistler Retrospective, National Museum of Modern Art, Kyōto, 2014, and Yokohama Museum of Art, 2014–2015 (cat. no. 125).

Journals 1906-Present

• None.

Websites

• The Hunterian website at http://collections.gla.ac.uk/#/details/ecatalogue/41216.
• Art UK website at https://artuk.org.

Unpublished

• None.

Other

• None.