The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

A commission for Whistler to decorate a wall panel in Bates Hall, Boston Public Library, was discussed in 1891, further explored in 1892, confirmed in 1894, and cancelled in 1895. Whistler's oil sketch of his proposal, Study for Three Decorative Panels Representing 'The Landing of Columbus', 'Queen Isabel la Católica of Spain' and 'Queen Elizabeth of England', was probably painted between 1892 and 1895. ¹

1891: On 2 May 1891 Edward William Hooper (1839-1901) wrote from Boston to Beatrice Philip (Mrs E. W. Godwin, Mrs J. McN. Whistler) (1857-1896) that decorations by John Singer Sargent (1856-1925) and Edwin Austin Abbey (1852-1911) for the Boston Public Library were to be financed by private gifts. He added:

'The building has already been far more costly than it was expected to be, and it has not been easy to get the money to finish it. It has I think great beauty and dignity of design, and I should be delighted to think that some of Mr Whistler's work would be added to its treasures.' ²

Whistler was encouraged by Sargent, Abbey, John Mead Howells (1848-1859), and the architect Charles Follen McKim (1847-1909), to submit plans for the decoration of a panel for Bates Hall. ³ McKim wrote to James R. Osgood on 14 September 1891, following up on earlier discussions:

'I find on my return home that the appropriation asked for by the Trustees of the Library, for an additional million, has not yet been granted. It is possible, however, that they will get the whole amount within the present year, and I would suggest that meanwhile Mr. Whistler submit in writing any proposition which he may have to make in regard to what he would like to do for the Library. If he will do this, we will undertake to lay it before the Trustees. Naturally, we have no authority to order work done, the Trustees of the Library alone having power, but, it goes without saying that we will use any influence which we may possess in Mr. Whistler's favor, should the opportunity occur. Both Mr. Sargent and Mr. Abbey have written regarding Mr. Whistler's claims to consideration in the strongest terms, which, coupled with your own expressions, should be of much use to him. I would further suggest that his letter contain an actual proposition in regard to subject and treatment, also, his views concerning the necessary time to be covered in execution, with a word as to his remuneration therefor. It would certainly be a great thing, not only for Boston, but for the country at large to have one of Mr. Whistler's serious works.' ⁴

The slight emphasis on 'serious' was hardly tactful!

1892: Sargent – whose support Whistler appreciated, praising his 'rare and noble camaraderie' ⁵ – wrote, suggesting a meeting in Paris with Samuel Abbott (1846-1931) and McKim:

'Today Abbey & I had been confabulating with McKim & Abbot, the President of the Board of Trustees, on the subject of the necessity of pressing you into this work if you will be coerced. They are very anxious indeed to bring it about, and during the past year they have wrought upon the minds of the people from whom the money must come and are very hopeful of getting a sum.

They feel that the room for you to do is the very holy of holies.

If you have not taken the idea en grippe I feel sure that something might result from a meeting with these two excellent fellows, so I propose that we dine together at Foyots on Saturday.' ⁶

According to Whitehill, 'it was a charming evening. Whistler, responded, drew sketches on the tablecloth, and his companions marveled. But the tablecloth went into the wash, nothing tangible came of the meetings, and Bates Hall is free from peacocks.' ⁷

Study for three decorative panels ... for Boston Public Library, Massachusetts, GUL MS Whistler W1329

In December, on the verso of a letter, Whistler made a pencil sketch, Study for three decorative panels representing 'The Landing of Columbus', 'Queen Isabel la Catôlica of Spain', and 'Queen Elizabeth of England' for Boston Public Library, Massachusetts m1356, reproduced above, which shows roughly the same composition as the oil study. ⁸

The Boston collector, Isabella Stewart Gardner (1840-1924) was keen to know whether Whistler had been given, or had accepted, such a commission. She wrote to Whistler, 'I am so crazy to have anything so splendid as our great Bates Hall painted by you, that I am too excited to remain in doubt!' ⁹

Study for Three Decorative Panels Representing 'The Landing of Columbus', 'Queen Isabel la Católica of Spain' and 'Queen Elizabeth of England', Boston Public Library

1892/1894: The wood panel on which the oil sketch is painted bears the stamp of Emile Blanchet (1852-1931), 20 rue Saint-Benoît, Paris, on the verso, suggesting it was obtained and possibly painted in Paris, where Whistler was living during this period.

1893: C. S. McKim sent Whistler plans and perspective views of Bates Hall showing the panels to be decorated, being one large panel flanked by two narrow ones. ¹⁰

1894: According to Whitehill, in July 1894 the chairman, Samuel Abbott, was empowered by the trustees of the Library to give Whistler a contract to decorate the wall at the north-east end of Bates Hall for $15,000. ¹¹

1895: In the spring the offer was withdrawn, no further money being available. ¹² On 7 May (having just received the Trustees' letter of 18 April) Whistler wrote to the trustees, attempting to confirm his original agreement with McKim and Abbott, and stating:

'It has long been my intention to write and state officially, what I, agreed verbally, my acceptance of the proposal to paint the panel offered to me in the Boston Library -

Verbally this was quite understood by Mr McKim, and Mr Abbott - It was thoroughly settled that I should have carte blanche both as to time and subject -

And as far as remuneration went, I made it clear to those gentlemen that I was willing to receive [sic] whatever sum the Authorities in Counsil [sic] should have at their disposal to apportion according to their judgement of the worth or importance of what I might do for them.' ¹³

He asked McKim to present his letter to the Trustees, claiming,

'This letter then, which I beg you will kindly lay before the Committee, is to say that, while silent - because I could then communicate nothing definite - I have been occupied with the problem I had set myself to solve - and that now I am in a position to state to the Committee decidedly that I do undertake the work - and that I do officially beg to accept their offer.' ¹⁴

This was too little, too late. The Trustees replied on 13 June 1895 that there were no further funds available: 'no contract for the fresco having been made, none can be entered into at this time, as the appropriation for decorative purposes is exhausted.' ¹⁵ Despite this setback, in September, Stanford White wrote :

'McKim is ready for war to the knife on the Public Library business, ... I beg you not to desert us, and promise that, as soon as the rumpus commences, there will be a song and dance around the Philistines on the Board of Trustees, which will make them sorry they ever tried any such "funny" business.' ¹⁶

Whistler also thought there was still some hope of reviving the project, but, on the other hand, he was horrified at I. S. Gardner's suggestion of incorporating Harmony in Blue and Gold: The Peacock Room y178 into the Hall:

'It would be a great affair if they really did get the Peacock Room over to America would n't it! - But how appalling! if they were to put it about in bits! and line it up against the wall! - like an old Brittany bedstead done into a screen! -

Of all terrible things especially to propose that it should be sampled round in scraps in the "Bates Hall"! - Isn't that the huge room or Gallery where I am to do the panel?' ¹⁷

1899: Whitehill suggested that:

'As this watercolor and gouache sketch on a wooden panel ... given by Miss Rosalind Birnie-Philip, Whistler's executrix and sister of his second wife, is thought to date from 1899-1900, it would appear that the artist kept the Boston project in mind for many years.' ¹⁸

Images

Subject

Titles

Only minor variations on the long descriptive title are recorded:

• 'the Landing of Columbus, with Queen Isabel la Catolica of Spain and Queen Elizabeth of England' (1970, Whitehill). ¹⁹
• "Study for Three Decorative Panels Representing 'The Landing of Columbus', 'Queen Isabel la Católica of Spain' and 'Queen Elizabeth of England" (1980, YMSM). ²⁰

Study for Three Decorative Panels Representing 'The Landing of Columbus', 'Queen Isabel la Católica of Spain' and 'Queen Elizabeth of England is the preferred title.

Description

Study for Three Decorative Panels Representing 'The Landing of Columbus', 'Queen Isabel la Católica of Spain' and 'Queen Elizabeth of England', Boston Public Library

The design, painted on a horizontal panel, incorporates three rectangular areas. Two women in a rough approximation of 16th century costume are painted, facing the viewer, in narrow vertical areas on each side of the large central composition. The central area shows ships with broad white sails on the sea at upper left, and half-naked figures, with billowing robes, standing on the shore. A seated figure is outlined in pencil at the shore's edge, looking out to sea.

Site

Bates Hall, Boston Public Library, after 1895, showing the blank panel, Whitehill 1970

The large panel that Whistler was asked to decorate in Bates Hall, Boston Public Library, in Boston, Massachusetts, remains vacant to this day. It is rectangular, about 4 x 9 metres (13 x 32'), on a slightly curved wall. It was described by the architect Charles F. McKim as follows:

'I send you herewith plan and perspective of Bates Hall showing the rectangular panel, of which we talked last winter. We hope to be able to send you the written commission for this work within a few days, Mr. Abbott having just returned from Europe.

Panels, A, B & C explained in plan and perspective form a basis of prospective work which we hope to confide to your hands in the near future -- the object being to form eventually a "Whistler Corner", reached by a door-way through the bronze and marble open grille screen, shown in plan and perspective. Feeling what your wish would probably be, we have urged upon the trustees the importance of reserving these panels for you as a measure of self-protection both for themselves and you, thus preventing the painting of subjects not harmonious with the great rectangular panel in close proximity to it. Please let us know upon what terms you would be willing to paint the whole or any one of these three panels, so that we may be able to control the situation in your interest.

We are expecting to hear soon from the friends of James R. Osgood, who are interested in raising money to employ you for a Memorial to be placed in the Public Library in his name / Say panels A B or C, - or any thing! if [they] can afford it. -- the subject, of course, not to have anything to do with Osgood.' ²¹

Whitehill commented:

'Although Stanford White wished to procure European painters for the decoration, Augustus Saint-Gaudens insisted that there were "strong men of American fiber who should be employed." So, although Puvis de Chavannes eventually decorated the main staircase, John Singer Sargent and Edwin A. Abbey were also brought into the scene. McKim, White, and Saint-Gaudens clearly saw, in the words of Charles Moore, "the possibilities opening before them for the creation of the greatest combined work of the architect, painter and sculptor ever achieved in America up to that time." ' ²²

Whitehill gave a romantic account of discussions between Whistler and the Bostonians:

'Sam Abbott went abroad in various summers, usually with McKim, ... looking into possibilities of decoration. In the hope that Whistler might be persuaded to decorate a large panel at the Boylston Street end of Bates Hall, Sargent arranged a charming dinner at Foyot's in Paris for himself, McKim, Abbott, and Whistler. … Whistler responded, drew sketches on the tablecloth, and his companions marveled. But the tablecloth went into the wash, and nothing tangible came of the meeting, even though the Bates Hall panel was informally reserved for Whistler.' ²³

Whitehill's detailed description of the plans for the site is as follows:

'In July 1894, President Abbott was empowered to execute a contract with James A. McNeill Whistler to decorate the wall at the northeasterly end of Bates Hall for $15,000 ... Negotiations with Whistler went so badly, however, that by the spring of 1895 the offer of a contract was withdrawn, to his considerable disgust. This was regrettable, for McKim had gone to great trouble to provide a very conspicuous place in Bates Hall for Whistler's decorations. The handsome arcade of the front of the building, designed around the thirteen great arched windows of this hall, turned the corners and continued along Blagden Street with six arches and along Boylston Street with eleven, the entire length of that northern facade. All contained grilles of the same size and design. The first two windows of the Blagden Street arcade lighted the southern, semicircular end of Bates Hall, but the first two on Boylston Street were blind, being filled not with glass but with Levanto marble. Thus at the northern end of Bates Hall was a great blank panel, crying out for Whistler to introduce color into a room dominated by the soft brownish-gray piers of sandstone, quarried in Amherst, Ohio. Although the panel is still blank three-quarters of a century later, the Print Department of the library has owned since 1950 a tiny suggestion of Whistler's for his proposed decoration. ... Whistler's death in 1903 closed this chapter, alas; one of his symphonies in color, regardless of subject, would have subtly enhanced the prevailing grayness of Bates Hall.' ²⁴

Sitter

The subjects of Whistler's rough draft were central figures in the European settlement of America. Whitehill states: 'The subject is the Landing of Columbus, with Queen Isabel la Catolica of Spain and Queen Elizabeth of England on either side of the main design, although it is so largely a study in blues and grays that the iconography does not spring to the eye.' ²⁵

Queen Isabel I of Spain (1451-1504) – 'Isabel la Católica' – was Queen of Castile (1474-1504) and of Aragon (1479-1504). She ruled the two kingdoms jointly from 1479 with her husband, Ferdinand II of Aragon (Ferdinand V of Castile). Their rule established the unification of Spain, and the beginning of an overseas empire in the New World, led by Christopher Columbus under Isabella’s sponsorship. She and her councillors gave approval for Columbus's expedition to discover a new route to the Indies in 1492, and their discoveries in the New World were, with papal confirmation, annexed to the crown of Castile.

The Italian explorer Christopher Columbus – Cristoforo Colombo/Cristóbal Colón (1450/1451-1506) – is not portrayed, although his ships appear: La Santa María de la Inmaculada Concepción ('La Santa María'), the Santa Clara ('La Niña'), and 'La Pinta', or, at least, rough approximations of such ships. Columbus set out in 1492, and instead of reaching Japan, landed in the Bahamas, on an island he named San Salvador. He made four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean, attempted to establish settlements on the island of Hispaniola, and initiated the Spanish colonization of the New World.

Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 1558 until her death. In 1578 Elizabeth granted permission to Sir Humphrey Gilbert (ca 1537-1583), an advocate of American colonization, 'to discover, search, find out and view such remote heathen and barbarous lands countries and territories not actually possessed of any Christian prince or people.' Since Spain laid claim to much of South and Central America, this meant that English attention was directed further north. After Gilbert's death, she transferred his rights to territory on the east coast of America to his half-brother, Walter Raleigh (1554-1618). From 1584 on Raleigh tried to establish a settlement at Roanoke Island and a colony named 'Virginia' after Elizabeth, the 'virgin queen'. Elizabeth was not inclined to fund these expeditions, any more than Isabel of Spain had been, but her support was vital, and these early attempts laid the basis for later, more successful colonisation.

Comments

Jacques Émile Blanche (1861-1942) thought that Whistler 'knew very well in his heart of hearts that such huge surfaces were not for him.' ²⁶ Blanche was somewhat unspecific in his comment, not being sure where the public library was, 'maybe it was Boston'!

Technique

Composition

Study for Three Decorative Panels … for Boston Public Library, GUL MS Whistler W1329

A pencil drawing by Whistler on the verso of a letter of December 1892 shows roughly the same composition as the panel. ²⁷

Although Whistler is said to have considered a design incorporating 'a great Peacock ten feet high' no related drawings are known. ²⁸ A somewhat wild suggestion by Isabella Stewart Gardner (1840-1924) that the Peacock Room should be bought, split up, and incorporated in the room, was met by Sargent and Whistler with dismay. ²⁹

Technique

Study for Three Decorative Panels Representing 'The Landing of Columbus', 'Queen Isabel la Católica of Spain' and 'Queen Elizabeth of England', Boston Public Library

The wood panel has the stamp of Emile Blanchet (1852-1931), 20 rue Saint-Benoît, Paris, on the verso. The panel was not primed, so the vivid colours have sunk into the board. The design was first outlined in black and brown paint, and shows many signs of having been rubbed out and altered, and worked over in pencil.

Conservation History

Unknown.

History

Provenance

• 1891-1894: discussions took place on a proposed wall panel for Bates Hall in Boston Public Library;
• 1894: a wall panel was commissioned from Whistler by the Trustees of Boston Public Library;
• 1895: the commission was withdrawn;
• 1903: the oil sketch was in Whistler's studio at his death and bequeathed to his ward and executrix, Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958);
• 1950: given by Miss R. Birnie Philip to the Boston Public Library.

See the DATE tab for further details of the history of this painting.

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. 396), plate 270, as "Study for Three Decorative Panels Representing 'The Landing of Columbus', 'Queen Isabel la Católica of Spain' and 'Queen Elizabeth of England' ".
• MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. no. 1356).

Authored by Whistler

• None.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• Taynton, Carol (intro.), Whistler in New England Collections, [checklist], Boston, 1977 (no cat. number).

Newspapers 1855-1905

• 'Whistler and the Boston Library, From The Boston Transcript', New York Times, New York, 28 September 1895, p. 3.

Journals 1855-1905

• 'The New Public Library at Boston, U.S.A.', Art Journal, New York, vol. 55, April 1893, pp. 126-27.

Monographs

• None.

Books on Whistler

• Bendix, Deanna Marohn, Diabolical Designs: Paintings, Interiors, and Exhibitions of James McNeill Whistler, Washington and London, 1995, pp. 200-02.
• Merrill, Linda, The Peacock Room. A Cultural Biography, New Haven and London, 1998, p. 316.
• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Life of James McNeill Whistler, 2 vols, London and Philadelphia, 1908, vol. 1, p. 150; vol. 2, p. 132.
• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Whistler Journal, Philadelphia, 1921, pp. 34, 142.
• Sutherland, Daniel E., Whistler: A Life for Art's Sake, New Haven and London, 2014, p. 285.

Books, General

• Blanche, Jacques-Émile, Portraits of a Lifetime: The Late Victorian Era, the Edwardian Pageant, 1870-1914, W. Clement (trans. and ed.), London, 1937, p. 76.
• Whitehill, Walter M., Boston Public Library, Cambridge, MA, 1956, pp. 149, 158-59.

Catalogues 1906-Present

• Merrill, Linda, et al., After Whistler: The Artist and His Influence on American Painting, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, 2003, p. 108 (not in exhibition).

Journals 1906-Present

• Blanche, Jacques-Émile, 'James McNeill Whistler', Renaissance Latine, vol. 4, no. 6, 15 June 1905, pp. 353-78, at p. 359.
• Curry, David Park, 'Whistler and Decoration', Antiques, vol. 126, no. 5, November 1984, pp. 1186-99.
• Whitehill, Walter M., ‘The Making of an Architectural Masterpiece - The Boston Public Library’, American Art Journal, vol. 2, Fall 1970, pp. 13-35, at pp. 22-24, repr. p. 25, fig. 9, Bates Hall repr. fig. 8.

Websites

• Digital Commonwealth: Massachusetts Collections Online website at https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth:3r076n79q

Unpublished

• Revillon, Joseph Whistler, Draft Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings of J. McN. Whistler, [ca 1945-1955], Glasgow University Library (cat. no. 632).

Other

• None.