The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Arrangement in Yellow and Grey: Effie Deans dates from some time between 1876 and 1879, and may also have been worked on later. ¹

According to the Pennells, it was begun in 1876 from the model, Maud Franklin (1857-1939). ²

However, a date in 1876, 1877, or 1879 is possible, during one of Maud Franklin's pregnancies. She had two children: Ione, born on 15 October, possibly in 1876 or 1877, and Maud McNeill Whistler Franklin (b. 1879), born on 13 February 1879. The title of the picture, with its reference to Effie Deans, the unmarried mother and heroine of Sir Walter Scott's novel Heart of Midlothian, reinforces the link with Maud Franklin's illegitimate children. ³

Whistler petitioned to be declared bankrupt in January 1879 and was declared 'insolvent' on 6 May 1879. It is not known what happened to 'Effie Deans' at that time, but it was probably deposited with the London printsellers H. Graves & Co. It was first exhibited in the International Exhibition, Edinburgh, 1886 (cat. no. 1412) as 'Effie Deans'.

Photographs record different stages in the development of 'Effie Deans', possibly at intervals from 1879 to 1889. A photograph from Whistler's estate, in Glasgow University Library, shows the painting before the signature and inscription were added. ⁴ Another, in the G. A. Lucas Collection, Baltimore Museum of Art, is signed with a butterfly that can be dated about 1881, and is inscribed by Whistler 'Arrangement in Grey & Yellow', and shows the painting in a later state. Moreover, comparing this with the present state of Arrangement in Yellow and Grey: Effie Deans, it appears that Whistler worked on it after the Lucas photograph was taken.

Arrangement in Yellow and Grey: Effie Deans, Rijksmuseum

It was exhibited in Derde Tentoonstelling der Nederlandsche Etsclub, Amsterdam, 1889 and bought by Reinhard Boelens, Baron van Lynden (1827-1896); according to the Pennells, it was signed at the owner's request on Whistler's trip to Holland in that year, and probably inscribed by him at the same time. ⁵

Images

Subject

Titles

Several possible titles have been suggested:

• 'Arrangement in Grey & Yellow' (1881, Whistler). ⁶
• 'Effie Deans' (1886, International Exhibition, Edinburgh). ⁷
• 'Effie Deans' (1889, Tentoonstelling van Kunstwerken van Levende Meesters, Amsterdam). ⁸
• 'Arrangement in Yellow and Grey: Effie Deans' (1980, YMSM) ⁹

'Arrangement in Yellow and Grey: Effie Deans' is the preferred title. It is one of only three paintings given literary titles by Whistler (with Annabel Lee y079, and Ariel y318).

The quotation is taken from Walter Scott's Heart of Midlothian (1818) a novel set in Edinburgh around 1737. The words relate to an episode in the early part of the novel. Effie is in the Tolbooth Prison in Edinburgh, accused – falsely – of the murder of her illegitimate child. A mob breaks in to take another prisoner, Porteous, to the gallows. In the confusion a 'person in female attire' – later discovered to be Effie's lover – urged her to 'flee, or they'll take your life'. The young woman 'gazed after him for a moment, and then, faintly muttering, "Better tyne life, since tint is gude fame," she sunk her head upon her hand, and remained, seemingly unconscious as a statue, of the noise and tumult which passed around her.'

Effie's child survived and became a criminal with the nickname of the 'Whistler', which may have also appealed to the artist, and influenced his choice of subject and title.

Description

Arrangement in Yellow and Grey: Effie Deans, Rijksmuseum

A full length painting of a woman in vertical format. She is in profile to right. She wears a shawl over her head and shoulders. Her right hand draws the shawl back from her face. She wears a long grey skirt, and poses against a dark brown background.

The painting is different from Whistler's other portraits of Maud Franklin, which emphasize her fashionable elegance. The costume, although vague – a shawled figure in a full skirted dress – is consistent with the period of Scott's novel. There is no sign of the 'tumult' around her, but focussing on an isolated figure in semi-darkness is a reasonable interpretation of the scene described in the novel.

Sitter

Maud Franklin (1857-1939). It is very likely that she was pregnant at the time of this painting, and posed in a dress and shawl that concealed her pregnancy. Her daughter Maud McNeill Whistler Franklin (b. 1879) was born in February 1879. ¹⁰

Technique

Composition

Arrangement in Yellow and Grey: Effie Deans, albumen print, GUL Whistler PH4/18

Arrangement in Yellow and Grey: Effie Deans, 1870s?, photograph

Arrangement in Yellow and Grey: Effie Deans, photograph, 1980

Arrangement in Yellow and Grey: Effie Deans, Rijksmuseum

A photograph in Glasgow University shows that the cloak over the woman's shoulders was originally much darker, with a glossy surface like satin, and her back was silhouetted against a light area. ¹¹ A photograph in the Lucas Collection, Baltimore, signed with a butterfly that can be dated about 1881, and inscribed by Whistler 'Arrangement in Grey & Yellow', shows the painting in a later state. A dark wash had been added down the right side of the picture and had dripped over the hem of the dress and down to the bottom of the picture.

From the present state of Arrangement in Yellow and Grey: Effie Deans it appears that Whistler worked on it after the Lucas photograph was taken, darkening some of the folds of the dress, and the shadow cast to the right, with very wet paint which has dripped and run in several places. He also lightened the cloak and added a flower pattern to it, although the head, hand and skirt do not appear to have been touched.

The photograph in Glasgow shows the painting before the signature and inscription were added. Walter Richard Sickert (1860-1942) told the Pennells (1911) that the inscription was added by someone other than Whistler, and Elizabeth Robins Pennell (1855-1936) was not sure that it was in Whistler's writing. However the Pennells also point out that Whistler made no objection to the inscription when he saw the painting in 1902. ¹²

Technique

Arrangement in Yellow and Grey: Effie Deans, Rijksmuseum

It is painted very thinly, with the paint dripping from the long, broad brushstrokes. Erma Hermens and Arie Wallert, who conducted extensive technical research on the painting, note that Whistler regarded it as one of several 'studio experiments', in which he employed 'fluid and transparent paints … with extensive dripping':

'In an early photograph, a series of long narrow drips can be seen at the bottom left, dripping from the dark, shadowy background that surrounds the cloaked figure. A later photograph shows a lighter tone on the model’s bodice and conspicuous black drips on the right side of the figure. Apparently Whistler was darkening the background with extremely thin washes of paint, to enhance the contrast with the figure while retaining the soft outlines at the edges of the dress. The photographs show several areas, particularly in the folds of the dress, where the shadows have been darkened and the highlights accentuated.' ¹³

A summary of their research findings on the paint and medium employed follows:

'The drips of carbon black-containing paint mixtures seem to make furrows in underlying paint, … Staining tests on cross-sections suggested an oil medium, and the presence of regular linseed oil was confirmed ... A small addition of beeswax was also identified. The extreme fluidity must have been achieved by greatly diluting the paint mixture with volatile solvents such as oil of turpentine or spike oil. After evaporation of the solvent the paint surface would have had a matt velvety appearance, enhanced by the beeswax.

… [In] ultraviolet light, … the painting shows an array of fluorescent tones, indicating a repeated application of partially overlapping thin layers. …

Elemental analysis of the greyish ground layer confirmed the presence of strontium, barium, zinc, lead and small amounts of iron oxide and ivory black (phosphorus was identified in the black particles ...). Three paint layers follow: a dark grey black, then a thin blackish layer that caused some dripping, followed by an even thinner black wash which added more dripping especially on the right. On top there is a highly fluorescent transparent layer, probably an oiling out layer, which he applied before adding the signature in 1889. ... In most cases the paint stratigraphy consists of just two or three thin paint layers using a fairly limited palette: white, yellow ochres, red and brown earth pigments and black. [A] cross-section taken from a light area on the fold of the skirt show[s] the presence of lead, iron, barium, strontium, calcium and zinc.

Interestingly, most of the samples showed the presence of barium (Ba) ... Examination of pigment particles … gave a strong indication of the presence of natural mineral barites. ... The barium sulphate pigment consists of rather large particles and seems to be mixed with conventional lead white. … The particulate characteristics of this paint mixture allowed it to be thinned to a very large extent without becoming slick and smooth, and without losing its matt appearance.

... X-ray fluorescence analysis also indicated the recurrent presence of strontium (Sr), … this pigment could be identified as celestine (strontium sulphate, SrSO4). … [T]he paint … seems to be a mixture of large celestine crystals and smaller amounts of tiny barite particles. … The increased production of this luminescent and gritty pigment around the 1870s and 1880s, and the appearance of the almost ephemeral, hazy and extremely thinly ‘washed’ full-length portraits by Whistler at this time can hardly have been coincidental. … The fairly large celestine particles, however, would have given his paint mixtures a rather open texture, while its often slightly bluish colour would impart a subtle cool tonality to Whistler’s silvery greys used both in the ground layer and the light areas in the skirt of the Effie Deans portrait. …

… There may be another explanation for the use of the pigments barite and celestine in the paint. Whistler was not only meticulous when choosing his painting materials, but also in the decoration of his houses and exhibition spaces, which he personally coordinated in every detail. [For instance, using] a first layer of grey to tone down bright hues …

[In] the 1870s, John Bryson Orr ... founded a factory for the production of lithopone, a white paint containing zinc sulphide and barium sulphate, which he patented in 1875, [and he] developed another white paint by adding celestine to the lithopone mix; this Duresco paint was patented in 1884 but Orr started production in the late 1870s. As all the cross-sections of paint samples from the Effie Deans portrait contain small amounts of zinc, barium sulphate and mineral strontium sulphate, it is possible that Whistler used oil-based house paint from Orr containing this mixture, with an addition of some lead white tube paint.

Conclusions. The group of full-length portraits from the late 1870s introduce a period in which Whistler experimented with strongly diluted paints, applied in thin washes. It also seems he used unusual pigment combinations in his white paints either by mixing tube paints such as blanc fixe (lead white and barium sulphate) and zinc white (zinc oxide), and adding mineral strontium sulphate, as its characteristics suited the desired translucent effect. However, it is also possible that he used oil-based house paint such as the Duresco produced by Orr to which he added some lead white tube paint. ' ¹⁴

Conservation History

Unknown.

Frame

Portrait Whistler frame, dating from 1876/1879. ¹⁵

History

Provenance

• 1888: bought through H. Graves & Co., London, by Messrs Dowdeswell, London art dealers;
• 1888: sold by them to Elbert Jan van Wisselingh (1848-1912), art dealer, The Hague;
• 1889: sold by him to Reinhard Boelens, Baron van Lynden (1827-1896);
• 1896: passed on van Lynden's death on 25 February 1896 to his widow, Maria Catharina Barones van Lynden (née Pallandt), Baroness van Lynden (1834-1905), The Hague;
• 1900: given by her to the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

It is not known what happened to Arrangement in Yellow and Grey: Effie Deans y183 at the time of Whistler's bankruptcy in 1879, but it was probably deposited with the London printsellers H. Graves & Co., with Arrangement in Black and Brown: The Fur Jacket y181, as security for a loan. On 19 March 1888 Algernon Graves (1845-1922) wrote to Whistler that he had a possible buyer for these two paintings. ¹⁶ The potential buyers may have been Messrs Dowdeswell, who put Arrangement in Yellow and Grey: Effie Deans on exhibition in July 1888. ¹⁷ According to Walter Dowdeswell (1858-1929) they bought the painting from Graves on 26 October 1888 and sold it immediately to Van Wisselingh in Holland. ¹⁸

After being exhibited in Amsterdam, Arrangement in Yellow and Grey: Effie Deans was sold by Van Wisselingh to Reinhard, Baron van Lynden, who wrote to Whistler in April 1889:

'Some time ago I had the pleasure of buying a picture of yours from Messrs Dowdeswell called "Effie Deans" I liked it very much and no doubt my liking it so much helped me in the sale of it. My client, Baron van Lynden is delighted with his / purchase and the picture has grown on him as I knew it would, as one has only to live with a work of this kind to become attached to it.' ¹⁹

His widow gave the painting to the Rijksmuseum. It is not entirely clear if Whistler saw it there, though his sister-in-law Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958) certainly did, for she wrote:

'In the National Gallery at Amsterdam there is a full length of Mr Whistler's. ... It was beautifully hung & looked as if it had always belonged there.

The Director of the Museum came to meet us & was most enthusiastic and hoped that the Master himself would come to see his work.' ²⁰

Exhibitions

• 1886: International Exhibition, Edinburgh, 1886 (cat. no. 1412) as 'Effie Deans'.
• 1889: Tentoonstelling van Kunstwerken van Levende Meesters, Amsterdam, 1889 (470) as 'Effie Deans'.

In Edinburgh the painting was 'skied' (hung high up), according to the art critic 'Megilp'. ²¹

It was also exhibited by Messrs Dowdeswell in London in July 1888, according to the New York Tribune. ²² In Amsterdam in the following year, Whistler's exhibits were awarded a gold medal, and the owner congratulated Whistler for the 'deserved distinction.' ²³

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. 183), plates 149, 405-06, as 'Arrangement in Yellow and Grey: Effie Deans'.

Authored by Whistler

• None.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• International Exhibition, Edinburgh, 1886 (cat. no. 1412) as 'Effie Deans'.
• Tentoonstelling van Kunstwerken van Levende Meesters, Amsterdam, 1889 (470) as 'Effie Deans'.

Newspapers 1855-1905

• Anon., 'Megilp', [review], Bailie, Glasgow, vol. 28, 12 May 1886, p. 11.
• Anon., 'The Edinburgh International Pictures', Glasgow Herald, Glasgow, 16 August 1886, p. 8.
• Anon., New York Tribune, New York, 31 July 1888.

Journals 1855-1905

• None.

Monographs

• None.

Books on Whistler

• Cary, Elizabeth Luther, The Works of James McNeill Whistler: A Study, with a Tentative List of Artist’s Works, New York, 1907 (cat. no. 497).
• Curry, David Park, James McNeill Whistler: Uneasy Pieces, New York, 2004, p. 398 n.17.
• Duret, Théodore, Histoire de J. McN. Whistler et de son oeuvre, Paris, 1904, repr. p. 157.
• Heijbroek, J. F., and Margaret F. MacDonald, Whistler and Holland, Zwolle and Amsterdam, 1997, pp. 30, 31, 33, 41.
• MacDonald, Margaret F., Susan Galassi, Aileen Ribeiro, and Patricia de Montfort, Whistler, Women and Fashion, New Haven and London, 2003, p. 135.
• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Life of James McNeill Whistler, 2 vols, London and Philadelphia, 1908, vol. 1, p. 201; vol. 2, pp. 88-89, 281.
• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Life of James McNeill Whistler, 5th (revised) edition, London and Philadelphia, 1911, pp. 276-77.
• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Whistler Journal, Philadelphia, 1921, pp. 163, 245, 247.
• Petri, Grischka, Arrangement in Business: The Art Markets and the Career of James McNeill Whistler, Hildesheim, 2011, pp. 286, 484.
• Sutherland, Daniel E., Whistler: A Life for Art's Sake, New Haven and London, 2014, p. 149.

Books, General

• Bunnig, Caroline, Judikje Kiers et al., Een eeuw apart : het Rijksmuseum en de Nederlandse schilderkunst in de 19de eeuw, Amsterdam, 1993, p. 15.
• Heijbroek, Jan Frederik, Ester L. Wouthuysen, Portret van een kunsthandel: de firma Van Wisselingh en zijn compagnons 1838-heden, Amsterdam, 1999, p. 35.
• Stolwijk, Chris, Uit de schilderswereld: Nederlandse kunstschilders in de tweede helft van de negentiende eeuw, Leiden, 1998, p. 346.

Catalogues 1906-Present

• Young, A. McLaren, James McNeill Whistler, Arts Council Gallery, London, and Knoedler Galleries, New York, 1960 (cat. no. 41).
• Hamlyn, Robin, Viktorianische Malerei: von Turner bis Whistler, Munich, 1993 (cat. no. 109).
• 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, pp. 140, 213 (cat. nos. 64-65).
• Heijbroek, J. F., and Margaret F. MacDonald, Whistler and Holland, Zwolle and Amsterdam, 1997, pp. 29-31, 61.
• Fowle, Frances, and Vivien Hamilton, Impressionism and Scotland, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, 2008, p. 51.
• Simpson, Marc, 'Whistler, Modernism, and the Creative Afflatus', in Simpson, Marc, Like Breath on Glass: Whistler, Inness, and the Art of Painting Softly, Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, MA, 2008, pp. 24-51, at pp. 41, 49-50, pl. 5.

Journals 1906-Present

• Heijbroek, J. F., 'Holland van het water: de bezoeken van James Abbott McNeill Whistler aan Nederland', Bulletin Rijksmuseum, 1988, vol. 36, no. 3, pp. 225-56.
• Heijbroek, Jan Frederik, Herbert Henkels, 'Het Rijksmuseum voor Moderne Kunst van Willem Steenhoff. Werkelijkheid of utopie?', Bulletin van het Rijksmuseum, 1991, vol. 39, pp. 163-249.
• MacDonald, Margaret F., 'Maud Franklin', in: Ruth Fine (ed.), James McNeill Whistler: A Reexamination, Studies in the History of Art, vol. 19, Washington, DC, 1987, pp. 13-26.
• Spring, Marika, Helen Howard et al., eds., Studying old master paintings: technology and practice: the National Gallery Technical Bulletin 30th anniversary conference postprints, London, 2011.

Websites

• Rijksmuseum website at https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/collection/SK-A-1902.
• 'Reinhard Boelens van Lynden', RKD website, at https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/445324.
• Hermens, Erma, and Arie Wallert, 'James McNeill Whistler: fluidity, finish and experiment', Studying Old Master Paintings - Technology and Practice, The National Gallery Technical Bulletin 30th Anniversary Conference at National Gallery, London, 2009, website at researchgate.net.

Unpublished

• Revillon, Joseph Whistler, Draft Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings of J. McN. Whistler, [ca 1945-1955], Glasgow University Library (cat. no. 141).

Other

• None.