The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler
YMSM 405
Portrait Study of a Man
Date
Portrait Study of a Man may date from the 1890s. 1
Portrait Study of a Man, The Fitzwilliam
Andrew McLaren Young (1913-1975) suggested that on grounds of style it was possible that it was painted in the 1890s. 2 However, there is considerable doubt as to its authorship, and therefore of its date.
Images
Portrait Study of a Man, The Fitzwilliam
Portrait Study of a Man, frame, The Fitzwilliam
Portrait Study of a Man, detail, The Fitzwilliam
Subject
Titles
Only one title is known:
- 'Portrait study of a man' (1948, exhibition, Cheyne Walk). 3
- 'Portrait Study of a Man' (1980, YMSM). 4
Description
Portrait Study of a Man, the Fitzwilliam
A three-quarter length study of a man in three-quarter view to right, painted in vertical format. He wears a dark overcoat and pale trousers. He has short brown hair and a moustache. The study is unfinished.
Sitter
Roland, Browse & Delbanco considered this to be a portrait of the painter William Stott (1857-1900), which would indicate a date before Whistler's quarrel with him in 1888. This identification has been controverted by Goodison. 5
Technique
Technique
Portrait Study of a Man, the Fitzwilliam
Portrait Study of a Man, detail, The Fitzwilliam
It is painted fairly thinly and broadly except for the face, which was painted careful with a very small pointed brush. There are very rough, sketchy brushstrokes to right of the figure and on the trousers. The pose does not seem to have been worked out properly, and the legs are cut off above the ankles.
The composition, style and technique are not consistent with Whistler's paintings, although the dark colouring is similar to his work.
Conservation History
Unknown.
Frame
Portrait Study of a Man, frame, The Fitzwilliam
Simple flat Whistler frame.
History
Provenance
- 1940 or 1941: bought from the Redfern Gallery, London, by Clifford Hall (1869-1957), London;
- 1948: auctioned at Sotheby's, London, 22 June 1955 (lot 139), bought in by Chandler at £30;
- 1956: sold by Hall to Roland, Browse & Delbanco, London dealers, and by them to Eric Milner-White (1884-1963), Dean of York;
- 1963: bequeathed by him to the Fitzwilliam Museum;
- 1970: received by the Museum.
The early provenance is unknown.
A label on the back of the panel gives supporting information from Roland, Browse & Delbanco; the other information is in gallery records. 6
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. 405), plate 252, as 'Portrait Study of a Man'.
Authored by Whistler
- None.
Catalogues 1855-1905
- None.
Journals 1855-1905
- None.
Monographs
- None.
Books on Whistler
- None.
Books, General
- None.
Catalogues 1906-Present
COLLECTION:
- Goodison, J. W., Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge: Catalogue of Paintings, III: British School, Cambridge, 1977, pp. 280-81.
EXHIBITION:
- Whistleriana: Exhibition arranged on behalf of Journal S.W. 3, 96 Cheyne Walk, London, 1948 (cat. no. 63).
SALE:
- Sotheby's, London, 22 June 1955 (lot 139).
Journals 1906-Present
- None.
Websites
- Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, at http://webapps.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/explorer (acc. 2019).
- Art UK website at artuk.org (acc. 2020).
Unpublished
- None.
Other
- None.
Notes:
1: YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 405).
2: Letter to Jack Goodison, Fitzwilliam Museum, 23 November 1971, GUL WPP file.
3: Whistleriana: Exhibition arranged on behalf of Journal S.W. 3, 96 Cheyne Walk, London, 1948 (cat. no. 63).
4: YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 405).
5: Goodison 1977 [more], pp. 280-81.
6: See also letters from Clifford Hall to J. W. Revillon, 7 February 1946, and n.d., GUL WPP file.