The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler
YMSM 227
Arrangement in Yellow: Portrait of Lily Langtry
Date
Arrangement in Yellow: Portrait of Lily Langtry dates from 1881. 1
In September 1881 Whistler wrote, 'Mrs Langtry is in Town and on Sunday came to breakfast - great success - there were fourteen of us in all! - I am to begin her portrait on Thursday - an arrangement in yellow.' 2 Mrs Langtry wrote much later that 'the numerous sittings were, I think, enjoyed by both of us ... I wonder what became of that unfinished picture and the yellow robe in which he was painting me? Both are still in existence I fancy.' 3
Images
Arrangement in Yellow: Portrait of Lily Langtry, Whereabouts unknown
Mrs Langtry, side face, leaning against screen, right arm on pedestal, photograph, 1885, The National Archives, Kew
Subject
Titles
Suggested titles are as follows:
- 'an arrangement in yellow' (1881, Whistler). 4
- 'Arrangement in Yellow: Portrait of Lily Langtry' (1980, YMSM). 5
'Arrangement in Yellow: Portrait of Lily Langtry' is the preferred title.
Description
A portrait of a woman in a yellow robe.
Sitter
Mrs Langtry, side face, leaning against screen, right arm on pedestal, photograph, 1885, The National Archives, Kew
Lily Langtry (1853-1929) née Emily Charlotte Le Breton, married Edward Langtry in 1874 and Sir Hugo de Bathe in 1899. She made her debut as an actress in the role of Kate Hardcastle in She stoops to conquer at the Haymarket Theatre in December 1881. 6
According to George Washburn Smalley (1833-1916), Whistler said of Lily Langtry: 'Her beauty is simply exquisite, but her manner is more exquisite still'; Smalley suggested she took up painting. 7
She was painted by George Francis (Frank) Miles (1852-1894), John Everett Millais (1829-1896), Edward Coley Burne-Jones (1833-1898) and others. Millais' portrait, A Jersey Lily (Jersey Museum and Art Gallery), was exhibited to great acclaim at the Royal Academy in 1878.
Technique
Technique
Lily Langtry recalled that there were numerous sittings but the portrait was not finished. 8
Conservation History
Unknown.
Frame
Unknown.
History
Provenance
Unknown.
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. 227) as 'Arrangement in Yellow: Portrait of Lily Langtry'.
Authored by Whistler
- None.
Catalogues 1855-1905
- None.
Journals 1855-1905
- Theatre, 1882, photograph of sitter repr. p. 65, and 1885, photograph repr. p. 1.
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, p. 303.
Books, General
- Langtry, Lily, The Days I Knew, London, 1925, pp. 63, 67, 143.
Catalogues 1906-Present
- None.
Journals 1906-Present
- None.
Websites
- None.
Unpublished
- Revillon, Joseph Whistler, Draft Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings of J. McN. Whistler, [ca 1945-1955], Glasgow University Library (cat. no. 157).
Other
- None.
Notes:
1: YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 227).
2: Whistler to H. E. Whistler, [September 1881], GUW #06694.
3: Langtry, Lily, The Days I Knew, London, 1925, pp. 63, 67, 143.
4: Whistler to H. E. Whistler, [September 1881], GUW #06694.
5: YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 227).
6: A photograph of her in this costume, Lily Langtry, London Stereoscopic & Photographic Company, published by Charles Dickens & Evans, woodburytype, 1 February 1882, is in the National Portrait Gallery, Ax35618.
7: Quoted by Langtry, Lily, The Days I Knew, London, 1925, pp. 63, 67, 143. Photographs of her at this time appear in Theatre, photographs of sitter, 1882, p. 65 and 1885, p. 1.
8: Langtry, Lily, The Days I Knew, London, 1925, pp. 63, 67, 143.