The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Portrait of a child probably dates from between 1885 and 1890, but could date from much later. ¹

It is just possible that it is the unlocated portrait listed as Little Maud Hamerton y347, which dates from between 1885 and 1887.

Portrait of a child, Colby College Museum of Art

Arrangement in Grey: Portrait of Master Stephen Manuel, private collection

It is hard to date. It is roughly dated from the technique and resemblance to other portraits of children, such as The Chelsea Girl y314 and Arrangement in Grey: Portrait of Master Stephen Manuel y321 in the mid-1880s.

A Corsican Child, The Hunterian

However it also resembles much later paintings such as Portrait of Miss Amy Brandon Thomas y392, Alice Butt (1) y437, and Alice Butt (2) y438 in the 1890s, and A Corsican Child y544 in 1901.

Images

Subject

Titles

Only one title has been suggested:

• 'Portrait of a Child' (2013, Sotheby's). ²
• 'Portrait of a Child' (1980, YMSM). ³

Description

Portrait of a child, Colby College Museum of Art

A half-length portrait of a child facing the viewer, in vertical format. She wears a round hat over short brown hair, and a pale brown coat or jacket with a huge bow at the neck.

Sitter

The sitter has not been identified although the picture bears some resemblance to portraits of children painted by Whistler at various periods (The Chelsea Girl y314, Arrangement in Grey: Portrait of Master Stephen Manuel y321, Portrait of Miss Amy Brandon Thomas y392, Alice Butt (1) y437, Alice Butt (2) y438, Brown and Gold: Lillie 'In our Alley!' y464, and A Corsican Child y544.

It is just possible that the model was Alice Maud Hamerton (b.1882), the niece of Maud Franklin (1857-1939), and is the portrait listed as Little Maud Hamerton y347.

Comments

Denys Sutton, one-time owner of the painting, commented, '[Whistler] hinted at the presence of that mysterious inner-world, which resides within us all, and the allusion to which became a major objective of his mature style', and he added:

'... in order to obtain the effect desired, which was really the apprehension of that mysterious quality in any personality which reveals the individual, he had to provide, as it were, an instantaneous statement of the special spark which vivified this inner world.' ⁴

Technique

Technique

Portrait of a child, Colby College Museum of Art

The child's coat and scarf are freely painted in shades of beige and brown on a fine weave canvas. The eyes and hair are a cool, dark brown, setting off pink cheeks. The hat is a warmer, slightly orangey, brown, with a yellow/beige bow or ribbon. The paint throughout is fairly thin. The pale beige and grey background was painted with broad brushstrokes over a darker brown underpaint, and it surrounds the head and hat quite imprecisely. Much smaller strokes with a fine pointed soft brush were used to define the child's features. Selective rubbing was also used on the face, softening and blending colours. Expressive curving brushstrokes then added layers of colour, adding solidity to the face and differentiating it from the surrounding clothes.

It is possible that the bow was intended to represent Whistler's butterfly (as in Portrait of Miss Lilian Woakes y393).

Sotheby's described the portrait:

'The portrait is at once direct and intense, magnified by his depiction of the young girl’s piercing eyes, and her strongly silhouetted figure placed within an almost intimate, cropped composition – a motif he used repeatedly throughout his portraiture. His approach is thoroughly modern with rapid, gestural brushwork, a soft tonal palette, creating a beautiful union of form and color emphasizing the immediacy of the image and the youthfulness of his sitter.' ⁵

Conservation History

Unknown.

History

Provenance

• 1951: sold at auction, Sotheby's, London, 27 June 1951, as 'Head and shoulders of a small girl', and bought for £75.0.0 by Denys Sutton (1917-1991), London;
• 1991: passed by descent to a private collection;
• 2013: sold at auction, Sotheby's, New York, 22 May 2013 (lot 60) for $341,000;
• 2013: bought by Peter H. Lunder (b. 1933) and Paula Crane Lunder (b. 1935);
• 2013: given to Colby College Museum of Art, the Lunder Collection.

The early provenance is 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. 321a), plate 206a, as 'Portrait of a child'.

Authored by Whistler

• None.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• None.

Journals 1855-1905

• None.

Monographs

• None.

Books on Whistler

• Sutton, Denys, James McNeill Whistler: Paintings, Etchings, Pastels and Watercolours, London, 1966, pp. 8, 29.

Books, General

• None.

Catalogues 1906-Present

• Sotheby's, London, 27 June 1951 as 'Head and shoulders portrait of a small girl'.
• Sotheby's, New York, 22 May 2013 (lot 60) as 'Portrait of a Child'.

Journals 1906-Present

• Art Prices Current, vol. 27, 1949-1950, cat. no. 4535.

Websites

• Colby College Museum website at http://www.colby.edu/museum.

Unpublished

• None.

Other

• None.