The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Portrait of Sir Henry Cole dates from 1876. ¹

The sitter's son, Alan Summerly Cole (1846-1934), recorded in his diary on 19 May 1876:

'J. W. called for my father - I went round later and in two hours J. W. had made a strong commencement upon a nearly life size portrait of my father. Looking at it reflected in glass and how figure stood well within the frame.' ²

According to the Pennells, it was one of the 'large six-foot full-length portraits' bought by the London printer Thomas Way (1837-1915) after Whistler's bankruptcy in 1879, and returned to the artist much later, probably at the time of Way's final settlement with Whistler in August 1897. ³

Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958), the artist's executrix, told the Pennells that it was burned. ⁴

Images

Subject

Titles

Only one title has been suggested:

• 'Portrait of Sir Henry Cole' (1980, YMSM). ⁵

Description

Alan Summerly Cole (1846-1934) described it as 'a nearly life size portrait of my father.' ⁶

Sitter

Sir Henry Cole, C.B., photograph, Victoria and Albert Museum E.207-2005

Henry Cole (1808-1882).

Sir Henry Cole KCB studied watercolour painting under the landscape painter David Cox (1783-1859) and was interested in engraving and etching. In 1831 he was appointed to the record commission, which in 1838 set up the Public Records Office; in 1851 he became secretary to the School of Design and from 1857 to 1873 was concerned with the development of the Department of Science and Art at South Kensington Museum.

In the winter of 1881-1882 Whistler started another portrait, Portrait of Sir Henry Cole y233, but it has also disappeared.

Technique

Technique

Unknown.

Conservation History

Unknown, probably destroyed. Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958), the artist's sister-in-law, told the Pennells that it had been burned. ⁷

Frame

Unknown.

History

Provenance

• 1879: bought by Thomas Way (1837-1915), London;
• 1897?: returned to Whistler.

According to the Pennells, it was one of the 'large six-foot full-length portraits' bought by one of Whistler's chief creditors, the lithographic printer Thomas Way, after Whistler's bankruptcy in 1879, and returned to Whistler later. ⁸ It may have been among the '10 large canvas portraits, 10 small canvases & 7 blank canvases' returned to the artist at the time of Way's final settlement with Whistler in August 1897. ⁹ Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958), the artist's executrix, told the Pennells that it was burned. ¹⁰

Exhibitions

It was not exhibited 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. 180) as 'Portrait of Sir Henry Cole'.

Authored by Whistler

• None.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• None.

Journals 1855-1905

• None.

Monographs

• None.

Books on Whistler

• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Life of James McNeill Whistler, 2 vols, London and Philadelphia, 1908, vol. 1, pp. 200-01.
• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Life of James McNeill Whistler, 5th (revised) edition, London and Philadelphia, 1911, p. 186.
• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Whistler Journal, Philadelphia, 1921, p. 134.
• Way, Thomas Robert, Memories of James McNeill Whistler, the Artist, London and New York, 1912, p. 135.

Books, General

• None.

Catalogues 1906-Present

• None.

Journals 1906-Present

• None.

Websites

• None.

Unpublished

• None.

Other

• None.