The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Portrait of Lady Archibald Campbell in Court Dress dates from about 1882. ¹

The Pennells imply that it was one of three portraits, with The Grey Lady: Portrait of Lady Archibald Campbell y241 and Arrangement in Black: La Dame au brodequin jaune - Portrait of Lady Archibald Campbell y242, painted in about 1882, and quotes a letter from the sitter in which she stated,

'His first idea was to paint me in court dress. The dress was black velvet, the train was silver satin with the Argyle arms embroidered in applique in their proper colours. He made a sketch of me in the dress. The fatigue of standing with the train was too great, and he abandoned the idea.' ²

Crucy thought Valerie Susan Meux (née Langdon) (1847-1910) introduced Whistler to Lady Archie and that eventually friends dissuaded her from sitting further. ³

Images

Subject

Titles

Only one title has been suggested:

• 'Portrait of Lady Archibald Campbell in Court Dress' (1980, YMSM). ⁴

Description

It appears to have been a full-length portrait of a woman in spectacular 'court dress', and as described by the sitter: 'The dress was black velvet, the train was silver satin with the Argyle arms embroidered in applique in their proper colours.' ⁵

The Argyll arms are as follows: Quarterly, first and fourth, a gyronny of eight, or and sable; second and third, argent, a galley, sable, sails furled, flag and pennants flying and oars in action, sable. The crest, a boar's head, fessewise erased, or; armed, argent; langued, gules: supports, two lions guardant, gules. A 'gyronny of eight' is a shield divided into eight gyrons by straight lines all crossing at the fess point.

Sitter

Janey Sevilla Campbell (Lady Archibald Campbell) (ca 1846-d.1923) married Archibald, the second son of the eighth Duke in 1869. She was a beautiful and cultured woman and moved in fashionable circles. Her patronage was important in restoring Whistler's position in London after his bankruptcy. Portrait of Lady Archibald Campbell in Court Dress y240 was the first portrait of 'Lady Archie' (see The Grey Lady: Portrait of Lady Archibald Campbell y241 and Arrangement in Black: La Dame au brodequin jaune - Portrait of Lady Archibald Campbell y242.

She was a pioneer in encouraging the production of pastoral plays, and posed in male costume for Note in Green and Brown: Orlando at Coombe y317.

Lady Archie's sister-in-law, Gertrude Elizabeth Campbell (Lady Colin Campbell) (1857-1911), posed to Whistler several years later for another unlocated portrait, Harmony in White and Ivory: Portrait of Lady Colin Campbell y354.

Technique

Technique

Unknown. It was not completed.

Conservation History

Unknown.

Frame

Unknown.

History

Provenance

Unknown.

Exhibitions

It was neither completed nor exhibited.

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. 240) as 'Portrait of Lady Archibald Campbell in Court Dress'.

Authored by Whistler

• None.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• None.

Journals 1855-1905

• Crucy, François, 'J. M.-N. Whistler', L' Art et les Artistes, Paris, 1905, pp. 40-45, at p. 43.

Monographs

• None.

Books on Whistler

• Duret, Théodore, Histoire de J. McN. Whistler et de son oeuvre, Paris, 1904, pp. 95-98.
• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Life of James McNeill Whistler, 2 vols, London and Philadelphia, 1908, vol. 1, pp. 305-06.

Books, General

• None.

Catalogues 1906-Present

• None.

Journals 1906-Present

• Sickert, Walter, ‘Where Paul and I differ’, Art News, No. 14, 10 February 1910, p. 113.

Websites

• None.

Unpublished

• None.

Other

• None.