The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Portrait of Walter Sickert dates from between 1885 and 1887.

Thomas Robert Way (1861-1913) recorded seeing a full-length portrait of Sickert in Whistler's studio in Fulham. ¹ Whistler took the lease of a studio at 454a Fulham Studios from the end of December 1884. He gave up the Fulham Road studio in the summer of 1888.

In June 1886 the art critic Malcolm Charles Salaman (1855-1940) saw, in Whistler's studio, 'A full length portrait of Mr. Walter Sickert.' ²

The date of the full-length portrait is not clear from the correspondence between artist and sitter. Sickert wrote to Whistler, possibly in December 1885 or 1886, that he had paid for his portrait, but, later, possibly in October 1887, he mentioned that £52.10.0 was outstanding 'to complete the 200 guineas.' ³ Unfortunately, it is not known if one or other or both of these payments were for the full-length portrait or for the two head-and-shoulder portraits of Sickert painted about the same time (see Sketch Portrait of Walter Sickert y350 and Portrait Sketch of Walter Sickert y351).

Images

Subject

Titles

One basic title has been suggested:

• 'portrait of Mr. Walter Sickert' (1886, M. C. Salaman). ⁴
• 'Portrait of Walter Sickert' (1980, YMSM). ⁵

Description

It was described by Malcolm Charles Salaman (1855-1940) as 'A full length portrait of Mr. Walter Sickert ... He is in evening dress, and stands against a dark wall ... The values of the black tones ... are wonderfully mastered.' ⁶

Sitter

Walter Richard Sickert (1860-1942) met Whistler about 1882, and left the Slade School of Art to become Whistler's pupil and assistant.

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

Portrait Sketch of Walter Sickert, Private Collection

He commissioned Whistler to paint portraits of both his wife (see Arrangement in Violet and Pink: Mrs Walter Sickert y337 and Green and Violet: Portrait of Mrs Walter Sickert y338) and himself (see Sketch Portrait of Walter Sickert y350 and Portrait Sketch of Walter Sickert y351).

Technique

Technique

Unknown, although M. C. Salaman said that 'The values of the black tones ... are wonderfully mastered.' ⁷

Conservation History

Unknown.

Frame

Unknown.

History

Provenance

• Unknown.

The portrait may have been commissioned by the sitter, Walter Richard Sickert (1860-1942), who wrote to Whistler, possibly in December 1885 or 1886, that he had paid for his portrait, but, later, possibly in October 1887, he mentioned that £52.10.0 was outstanding ('This leaves me indebted to you for £52.10 for my portrait, to complete the 200 guineas.'). ⁸ It is not known if these payments were for the full-length portrait or for two smaller portraits of Sickert painted about the same time (see Sketch Portrait of Walter Sickert y350 and Portrait Sketch of Walter Sickert y351).

According to the Pennells, the portrait 'vanished'. ⁹

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. 349) as 'Portrait of Walter Sickert'.

Authored by Whistler

• None.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• None.

Journals 1855-1905

• Salaman, Malcolm Charles, 'In Whistler's Studio', The Court and Society Review, vol. 3, 1 July 1886, pp. 588-90.

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, p. 26.
• Way, Thomas Robert, Memories of James McNeill Whistler, the Artist, London and New York, 1912, p. 79.

Books, General

• None.

Catalogues 1906-Present

• Young, A. McLaren, James McNeill Whistler, Arts Council Gallery, London, and Knoedler Galleries, New York, 1960 (cat. no. 54).

Journals 1906-Present

• Dempsey, Andrew, 'Whistler and Sickert: A Friendship and its End', Apollo, vol. 83, January 1966, pp. 30-37, at pp. 32-33.

Websites

• None.

Unpublished

• None.

Other

• None.