The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler
YMSM 186
A Portrait: Maud
Date
A Portrait: Maud dates from between 1876 and 1878. 1
It was probably among the paintings 'more or less destroyed', according to Thomas Robert Way (1861-1913), at the time of Whistler's bankruptcy in 1879. 2
A Portrait: Maud, photograph, Pennell Collection, Library of Congress
A photograph in the Pennell Collection, Library of Congress, is the only record of A Portrait: Maud y186, and shows that the painting was badly scratched and scoured. 3 Nothing further is known of it.
Images
A Portrait: Maud, photograph, Pennell Collection, Library of Congress
Harmony in Red and Black, photograph, Lucas Collection, Baltimore
Subject
Titles
One title, with varying punctuation, has been suggested:
- 'A Portrait (Maud)' (1908, Pennell). 4
- 'A Portrait: Maud' (1980, YMSM). 5
'A Portrait: Maud' is the preferred title.
Description
A Portrait: Maud, photograph, Pennell Collection, Library of Congress
A full-length portrait of a woman in vertical format. She is wearing a black tippet around her neck, the ends falling over her bust, a simple close fitting dress with long skirt, and a black hat with a broad round brim. Her head is slightly tilted to left (her right). 6
A Portrait: Maud, photograph, Pennell Collection, Library of Congress
Harmony in Red and Black, photograph, Lucas Collection, Baltimore
The pose, with tilted head, and her dress and large hat, is similar to Harmony in Black and Red y236.
The photograph gives the proportions for A Portrait: Maud y186. Assuming it to be life-size, these proportions correspond to a canvas size of approximately 75 x 37 (191 x 94).
Sitter
Whistler's mistress and chief model from the mid-1870s to mid-1880s, Maud Franklin (1857-1939)
Technique
Technique
A Portrait: Maud, photograph, Pennell Collection, Library of Congress
Judging from the photograph, it looks unfinished, with blurred outlines, and the dark paint of the gloves and bag has dripped over the dress. It also looks splashed and the canvas has been scratched and gouged.
Conservation History
Unknown.
Frame
Unknown.
History
Provenance
Unknown. It was probably destroyed at the time of Whistler's bankruptcy in 1879.
According to the Pennells, a portrait of Maud Franklin 'in bonnet and furs' was 'owned by Mrs Walter Sickert, and by her returned to Whistler.' 7 The description fits A Portrait: Maud y186 but since the Pennells thought the portrait was one exhibited at the SBA in 1886-1887 (which was Harmony in Black, No. 10 y357) the evidence is inconclusive.
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. 186), plate 127, as 'A Portrait: Maud'.
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. 2, repr. f.p. 30 as 'A Portrait (Maud).
- Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Whistler Journal, Philadelphia, 1921, pp. 166-67.
- Way, Thomas Robert, Memories of James McNeill Whistler, the Artist, London and New York, 1912, p. 115.
Books, General
- None.
Catalogues 1906-Present
- None.
Journals 1906-Present
- None.
Websites
- None.
Unpublished
- None.
Other
- None.
Notes:
1: Dated 'about 1876' in YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 186).
2: Way 1912 [more], p. 115.
3: Pennell 1908 [more], vol. 2, repr. f.p. 30.
4: Pennell 1908 [more], vol. 2, repr. f.p. 30.
5: YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 186).
6: The photograph in the Pennell Collection, Library of Congress, is the only record of the painting; Pennell 1908 [more], vol. 2, repr. f.p. 30.
7: Pennell 1921C [more], pp. 166-67.