The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Portrait of M. R. Elden (3) probably dates from between 1882 and 1884. ¹

1882: Whistler is known to have been working on a full-length of Matthew Robinson Elden (1839-1885) in 1882, Portrait of H. R. Eldon (1) y243, but this has not been located.

Portrait of M. R. Elden (3), Private collection

1883: According to the artist Walter Richard Sickert (1860-1942), he saw Whistler at work on a portrait of Elden. ² Sickert dated it about 1883, and a date of 1883 or 1884 is reasonable, given the deterioration in Elden's mental health before his death in 1885.

Images

Subject

Titles

Early titles gave the sitter's name incorrectly:

• 'Portrait of Mr. Eldon [sic] (Intimate friend of Whistler)' (1947, Macbeth). ³
• Portrait of H. R. Eldon (3) [sic] (1980, YMSM). ⁴

The preferred title is 'Portrait of M. R. Elden (3).' The numbering is necessary to distinguish it from other portraits of Elden.

Description

Portrait of M. R. Elden (3), Private collection

A half-length portrait of a man in a grey jacket against a dark background, in vertical format. He has a large moustache and neat beard, and looks directly at the viewer. He lean,s with his right elbow, on a table at left.

Sitter

The artist Matthew Robinson Elden (1839-1885) was a close friend and frequent visitor to Whistler's studio from about 1876 until he went mad, dying in an asylum.

Whistler painted three portraits of him, Portrait of H. R. Eldon (1) y243, Portrait of H. R. Eldon (2) y244, and the painting under discussion, Portrait of H. R. Eldon (3) y245, which is the only one extant.

His name, incorrectly spelled as 'Eldon' in earlier publications, was corrected to 'Elden' in the online Whistler Correspondence edition in 2003.

Technique

Technique

Portrait of M. R. Elden (3), Private collection

It was not finished, but just blocked in boldly with narrow angular brushstrokes.

Sketch Portrait of Walter Sickert, Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, Dublin

The sketchy technique slightly resembles that in Whistler's Sketch Portrait of Walter Sickert y350, painted in 1885/1886.

Conservation History

Unknown.

Frame

Unknown.

History

Provenance

• 1883/1886: acquired from the artist by Walter Richard Sickert (1860-1942);
• 1905: sold by Sickert to Edgar J. Hesslein (1864-1938), New York.
• Date unknown: bought through Kennedy, New York dealer, by Henry Harper Benedict (1844-1935), New York;
• 1935: after his death on 12 June 1935, passed to his widow, Katherine Geddes Benedict (1879-1961);
• 1946: sold by her through William Macbeth, New York dealers, to Mrs Carolyn Hotchkiss, later Carolyn Glendenin Foulke (née Ryan) (1910-1987), New York and (in the 1960s) Florida;
• 1987: sold to a private collection.

According to a statement pasted on the back and signed by Walter Sickert, he sold it on 12 August 1905. Apparently some years later Pennell suggested that the picture was by Walter Greaves (1846-1930), which Sickert vigorously denied, saying that he had obtained it directly from Whistler and sold it to Hesslein. ⁵

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. 245), plate 171, as 'Portrait of M. R. Elden (3)'.

Authored by Whistler

• None.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• None.

Journals 1855-1905

• None.

Monographs

• None.

Books on Whistler

• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Whistler Journal, Philadelphia, 1921, repr. f.p. 123.
• Weintraub, Stanley, Whistler: A Biography, London, 1974, p. 292.

Books, General

• Robins, Anna Gruetzner (ed.), Walter Sickert: the Complete Writings on Art, Oxford, 2000, pp. 211, 298.

Catalogues 1906-Present

• Loan Exhibition, Macbeth Gallery, New York 1947 (cat. no. 18) as 'Portrait of Mr. Eldon (Intimate friend of Whistler)'.

Journals 1906-Present

• Sickert, Walter R., 'Where Paul and I differ', Art News, no. 14, 10 February 1910, p. 113.
• Sickert, Walter R., Letter to editor, 'The Works of Whistler', The New Age, 29 February 1912.
• Sickert, Walter R., Letter to editor, 'The works of Whistler', The New Age, 4 April 1912.

Websites

• None.

Unpublished

• None.

Other

• Revillon, Joseph Whistler, Draft Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings of J. McN. Whistler, [ca 1945-1955], Glasgow University Library (cat.no. 156).