The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Brown and Gold: Portrait of Lady Eden was started in 1894 and continued in the following year. ¹

1894: Sybil Frances Grey, Lady Eden (1867-1945), first sat to Whistler in his studio in the rue Notre-Dame-des-Champs, Paris, on 9 January 1894. ²

Whistler, Brown and Gold: Portrait of Lady Eden, The Hunterian

According to the artist, the portrait of was 'all but finished' by 14 February 1894. ³ Her husband, William Eden (1849-1915), sent Whistler a cheque, which Whistler eventually returned, retaining the picture.

1895: The portrait was continued in 1895, with a new sitter, Margaret Curzon Hale, Mrs H. D. Hale (1872-1948). John Mead Howells (1848-1859) wrote on 11 January 1895, 'I have just dined with Mrs Bert Hale & had long accounts of the portrait.' ⁴ In March Whistler stated that 'Of the picture now seen the whole surface is new - no hundre[d]th part of an inch ... of the old & disputed portrait remaining!' ⁵

1899: Eden took Whistler to law, in an attempt to obtain the portrait. Finally, Whistler worked on the painting again, attempting to completely remove Lady Eden's image before the picture was presented in court in November 1899, but, he admitted, 'the more I scrape off, the more the original comes through! and I don't think the whole thing ever looked so like Lady Eden before!' ⁶

The court case was described from Whistler's side in his book Eden versus Whistler: The Baronet and the Butterfly published in 1899. For Whistler the central issue was that on which his appeal was won, namely that an artist and a patron do not enter into an ordinary contract of sale. The artist must be free to withhold a work with which he is dissatisfied, although accepting liability to restore fees paid in advance and to make good his patron's expenses.

Whistler, Two butterflies on tricolour flags among the clouds for Eden versus Whistler, 1899

Whistler's designs for Eden versus Whistler: The Baronet and the Butterfly, dating from 1899, include a number of exuberant butterflies, such as r.: Butterfly for 'Noblesse abuse'; v.: tail m1550, and for a triumphant conclusion, Two butterflies on tricolour flags among the clouds m1558.

Images

Subject

Titles

Two titles have been suggested:

• 'Brun et or; – Portrait de Lady E.' (1894, Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts). ⁷
• 'Brown and Gold: Portrait of Lady Eden' (1980, YMSM). ⁸

Brown and Gold: Portrait of Lady Eden, the title used in the 1980 catalogue, and which conforms to the style of other titles, is generally accepted.

However, since Whistler asserted that he had changed the portrait of Lady Eden to a portrait of Mrs Hale, the title is undeniably misleading!

Description

Whistler, Brown and Gold: Portrait of Lady Eden, The Hunterian

This is a portrait of a seated woman, painted in horizontal format, in shades of brown. She is seated at right on an elaborate sofa, her body turned to left, her face looking at the viewer. There is the rough indication of a pot and foliage at the lower right corner. Panelling is visible on the wall behind her.

Sitter

The original sitter was Sybil Frances Grey, Lady Eden (1867-1945), the daughter of Sir William Grey, a former Lt Governor of Bengal and Governor of Jamaica. A much admired Society beauty, in 1886 she married William Eden (1849-1915), second son of the sixth Baronet, who had succeeded his father in 1873.

George Moore (1852-1933) introduced the Edens to Whistler. The artist wrote, 'Upon the whole I think I prefer people who shoot - or fish - or play Hallma [sic] - to those who "paint very nicely indeed in water colours"! - But your friends the Edens are of course charming - and I shall be delighted to know them.' ⁹ Eden was a landowner, living at Windlestone, Ferry Hill, County Durham, a keen huntsman, traveller, collector, and watercolour painter, exhibiting regularly in London and Paris. In the army he had risen to the rank of Colonel. ¹⁰

The Edens had five sons, one of whom died at birth. They never divorced but eventually lived separate lives. Lady Eden died on 17 June 1945, aged seventy-eight.

Lady Eden was also painted by Philip Wilson Steer (1860-1942) in 1896, and by John Singer Sargent (1856-1925), whose portrait (now in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, W1920-2-1) was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1907. ¹¹

An American lady, Margaret Curzon Hale, Mrs H. D. Hale (1872-1948), posed for alterations made to Brown and Gold: Portrait of Lady Eden after Whistler refused to send the portrait to Sir William. At Whistler's request, she appeared in court beside Whistler, 'looking very pretty,' as the artist wrote to his wife. ¹² A miniature portrait of Mrs Hale in 1917, Margie in White, by Laura Coombs Hills, is in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts (51.1933).

At one point Whistler thought of asking someone else to sit for the painting – possibly Inez Eleanor Addams (1874-1958), or Isabella Stewart Gardner (1840-1924) – but neither eventually posed. ¹³

Technique

Composition

William Eden, Whistler's portrait of Lady Eden, from Eden 1933, p. 56

A pencil drawing of Whistler painting the portrait, and a watercolour sketch of it as it originally appeared, both by Sir William Eden, are reproduced in his memoirs. The watercolour entered the collection of Lord Eden of Winton. ¹⁴

According to Archibald Standish Hartrick (1864-1950), the portrait was 'a little masterpiece ... when I saw it before it was altered. Whistler did not paint out the head but scraped it off so that if he lost the case it could not be recovered.' ¹⁵

Jules Huret (1863-1915) (quoted by Barbier) reported Whistler in 1895 as saying:

'[J]e me décidai à effacer complètement la toile. Et, comme j'avais un autre portrait de dame a faire, je recommençai brun et or; je mis derrière mon modèle le même rideau d'or; je la fis asseoir sur le même canapé; elle eut une robe brune à peu près pareille à l'autre, le même col de fourrure et le même manchon, et prit la même pose. Ce tableau appartient bien par conséquent désormais à mon nouveau modèle, n'est-ce pas?' ¹⁶

Translated this reads: 'I decided to completely efface the work. And, as I had another portrait of a lady to do, I recommenced brown and gold; I placed behind my model the same gold curtain; I sat her on the same sofa; she had a brown robe similar to the other, the same fur collar and the same cuff, and took the same pose. Consequently this painting now represents my new model, doesn't it?'

After painting out the face and figure of Lady Eden, Whistler substituted a portrait of Margaret Curzon Hale, Mrs H. D. Hale (1872-1948), and also added a pot of flowers on the right.

He went into considerable detail in the draft of a letter to a newspaper:

'I did not confine myself to wiping out the face of the original portrait - I scrubbed out and pomeystoned [sic] off the entire picture - I then repainted entirely, from nature, upon the same panel, ... what might be called a new picture - I placed my furniture, my background, and my accessories etc in the same disposition. I took the same sofa - and, for background, hung behind it, the identical gold coloured curtains, of the former portrait. Another lady took upon the sofa, as far as possible, absolutely the same pose, dressed in analagous [sic] colours - happily possessing a gown of a similar tone of brown - though naturally of a different nuance - Fairer and more golden, decidedly, The large sle[e]ves were of the same fashionable cut - A fur collar of the same sort of note - the muff carefully in the same place - The bottines of the same sort of yellow - the hat also had its feathers, and was posed, upon the sofa, in about the same spot - Now there was one marked difference in the costume of the two ladies, which I pointed out to the Judge - The first wore a jacket, whose furred edge ran accross [sic] the figure, and on the other side, continued beyond the knee, and lay upon the sofa, hanging slightly over in front - In the case of the second lady there was no jacket. The dress was all in one, and the lines of the figure were uninterrupted - Having now arranged my new work, I began, and painted from nature again the entire panel, producing this time the portrait of the second lady as carefully and as faithfully as before I had the portrait of the first lady.' ¹⁷

Whistler, Brown and Gold: Portrait of Lady Eden, The Hunterian

The painting now (2020) differs from Eden's watercolour, done from memory, in that there are no book-lined shelves in the background, and the figure occupies more room. ¹⁸

Technique

William Eden, Whistler painting Lady Eden, pencil

William Eden (1849-1915) described Whistler painting this portrait, and himself sketched Whistler at work. Eden's drawing shows Whistler seated in an armchair, holding a large oval palette in his left hand, medium sized brushes, and with the panel on an easel. ¹⁹ This is unusual in that most images of Whistler show him standing at an easel.

It was painted on a single section of mahogany-type wood, about 5 mm thick, bevelled on the verso on all sides. It is lacquered on the verso and may have come from a piece of furniture. It was not, apparently, primed (or the priming may have been rubbed down and no longer be visible). ²⁰

Whistler told his wife, at the time that he replaced the figure of Lady Eden with that of Mrs Hale,:

'Now after all the little picture turned out very much more kindly in behaviour than I at first thought! … You know when I first saw it in the studio, I thought it had a chilled and befuddled look - and I was much discouraged! - I put some of the "Vibert" retouching varnish upon it - but still found it dark and cold - well I brought it away with me in its frame - and by chance again in the evening, looking at it, finding the very slight & thin varnish had all sunk in I took my new silk soft foulard shirt that was lying on the bed, and began gently to rub and polish the picture with it! - Extraordinary! - As I rubbed & polished the colour began as who should say to thaw! - I went on - and at last the picture was one glow of lovely colour! ... Then I had an inspiration - I bolted over to Mrs. Hale - who is still looking very pretty - or will I think for what I want - and told her that she must come to the Court on Wednesday! - (when it meets again & judgement is given) She must be seated on our side - as Lady Eden is on the other! - She must be dressed in the brown costume - just as in the picture - so that there can be no doubt!' ²¹

Conservation History

Whistler, Brown and Gold: Portrait of Lady Eden, The Hunterian

The painting is in the state in which Whistler finally left it: the flowers on the right are gone (though the pot is visible), the face and the background are very faint; in fact the background was probably always unrealised, except for the bookcase on the right. The poor condition of the painting is, according to Whistler himself, due to his repeated scraping down and repainting of the panel.

In October 1899, when Whistler was desperately trying to remove any resemblance to Lady Eden before showing the painting in court, he told his sister-in-law:

'I have been sand papering it down all the afternoon - and ... the more I scrape off, the more the original comes through! and I don't think the whole thing ever looked so like Lady Eden before! dress & all!! - I am quite distraught and dont know whether I shall turn it into the Bate! or Mrs. Jack Gardner!' ²²

Dr Joyce H. Townsend considered that the ‘rubbing down with sandpaper’, probably referred to the back of the sofa and the face. The rubbing down on the sofa and background reveals the wood panel underneath. However, the face, as it now appears, does not look reworked, suggesting that the face of Lady Eden was indeed effaced by Whistler. Quite apart from being repainted at different times, the panel was 'possibly wiped with turpentine too, in long sweeping horizontal strokes, that are now the very opaque areas, flatter than the wrinkled paint.' There are areas where 'sweeping brushstrokes of very matt material, likely thinning with turpentine' have been applied. The matte, glossy and wrinkled areas do not correspond to the areas of reported changes to the composition. Finally, she adds,

'[It was] varnished first within a frame that covered the edges by ca 5 mm on all sides, and later overall, both with yellowed natural resin type varnish, giving a yellowed and glossy accumulation of varnish with small-scale wrinkling, hairs and dust trapped within – very disfiguring.' ²³

The panel has developed a slight diagonal warp, but has not split. There is no apparent paint loss. The varnish has darkened making an already obscure image harder to see. ²⁴

Frame

44.0 x 55.7 x 5.4 cm.

History

Provenance

• 1894: commissioned by William Eden (1849-1915), Baronet, 1894;
• 1895: Whistler returned Eden's money and repainted the panel;
• 1903: in Whistler's studio at his death, and bequeathed to his ward and executrix, Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958);
• 1935: given by her to the University of Glasgow.

There is extensive documentation on the commission and history of this painting, as well as Whistler's book on the subject, and an edited summary is given below:

1892: In 1892 the London dealer D. C. Thomson told Whistler that Sir William Eden wanted him to paint a portrait of his wife, and Whistler suggested Eden should come to Paris where he would paint her head for 500 guineas, in his new studio. He wrote, 'Sir - Eden About the portrait of his wife - the head for 500. Guineas. Don't you think that you might ask whether they wouldn't come over here and have it painted in my new studio?' ²⁵

1893: Accordingly Thomson wrote again to Eden, who replied,

'I fully recognise and appreciate Mr. Whistler's merits, but I hoped his charge for a head only would have been much less than 550. I cannot therefore at that price think of it ... If you would kindly send me Mr. Whistler's address in Paris I would try and call on him on my way through.' ²⁶

1894: According to Whistler, Eden considered that £525 was 'too much for a head' and persuaded George Moore (1852-1933), to ask Whistler to 'make very liberal concessions.' ²⁷ Whistler agreed to meet Eden, and wrote accepting the commission, but the exact details of their agreement were not made clear. In a draft of his letter, Whistler wrote,

'All right about the little sketch - and I daresay there will be no difficulty about the sum - The only point of real moment is that I should be enabled to produce the charming picture that with Lady Eden's kind assistance ought ... to be expected[.] Once undertaken, Call it sketch or whatever you will, ... however slight, for me, one work is as important as another ... As to the "figure" - whatever you thought of will do - Moore I fancy said something about a hundred or a hundred & fifty gns.' ²⁸

As published by Whistler, however, the letter he actually sent read slightly differently:

'It is quite understood as to the little painting, and I think there can be no difficulty about the sum. The only really interesting point is that I should be able to produce the charming picture, which, with the aid of Lady Eden, ought to be expected. Once undertaken, however slight, for me, one work is as important as another ... As for the amount, Moore, I fancy, spoke of one hundred to one hundred and fifty pounds.' ²⁹

Lady Eden first sat to Whistler in his studio in the rue Notre-Dame-des-Champs on 9 January 1894. ³⁰ According to Whistler (1899), the portrait was 'all but finished' by 14 February 1894 when Eden sent a cheque for 100 guineas. Whistler accepted the cheque, writing in acknowledgement:

'I have your Valentine -

You really are magnificent! - and have scored all round -

I can only hope that the little picture will prove, even slightly worthy of all of us - and I rely upon Lady Eden's amiable promise to let me add the few last touches we know of - She has been so courageous and kind all along in doing her part.' ³¹

Arthur Jerome Eddy (1859-1920) later pointed out that the amount mentioned for the portrait in 1894 'was less than he ordinarily asked for a water-color sketch.' ³² At the time, Eden clearly understood Whistler's irony and visited the artist in his studio, but both parties could not agree on a price. The matter remained unresolved when Eden went on a trip to India. In the meantime, the picture was exhibited at the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, after which, on 20 July 1894 Lady Eden asked Whistler to return it. ³³ A couple of days later, on 22 July 1894, Emil Heilbut (1861-1921) of Hamburg suggested Whistler paint a copy of 'ce portrait tout à fait charmant de la femme assise' that he had seen in Whistler's studio, for 300 guineas. ³⁴

Three months later, on 24 October 1894, Eden's lawyers requested delivery of the picture. ³⁵ Whistler's lawyers then returned the original sum paid, £105. Whistler retained the picture and claimed to be 'relieved from obligation', but Eden's lawyers would not accept the cheque. ³⁶

Whistler then painted out the face and figure of Lady Eden and substituted a portrait of Margaret Curzon Hale, Mrs H. D. Hale (1872-1948), and, at the Civil Tribunal of the Seine on 27 February 1895, Mrs Hale sat beside Whistler and wore the brown costume in which she had posed. ³⁷ On 20 March 1895 Whistler was ordered by the court to hand over the portrait, to refund the £105, and to pay damages of 1000 francs. He appealed against the verdict. ³⁸

Since Mrs Hale had posed for the picture after Lady Eden, so that the portrait was now one of Mrs Hale, Whistler suggested that her husband might intervene to prevent the picture going to Eden. Whistler's lawyer, replied:

'I understood from you that it is not and is not going to become the property of Mrs. Hale or of Mr. Hale. Is it then going to remain your property? I point out to you that in my opinion Mrs. Hale has an interest in preventing this portrait going into the hands of some stranger. At the same time she is in a much stronger position if she contracted to purchase it than if even the understanding was that it was to be painted and remain in your studio.' ³⁹

Whistler's appeal was heard in the appeal court, the Cour de Paris, on 17 November 1897. ⁴⁰ On 2 December 1897 Whistler was granted the picture so long as he did not 'make use of it, public or private', or let it look like Lady Eden, and he was ordered to return the money with 5 per cent interest, plus £40 damages. ⁴¹

Eden's final appeal to the Cour de Cassation was rejected in March 1900. ⁴² The case remains important for the modern understanding of author's rights and has repeatedly been referenced in legal literature. ⁴³

Exhibitions

• 1894: Exposition Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Champ de Mars, Paris, 1894 (cat. no. 1187) as 'Brun et or; – Portrait de Lady E.'

It was exhibited only once, in Paris at the salon of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts in 1894, where it was partly identified as a 'Portrait de Lady E.' Apparently Sir William Eden expected it to be sent to the exhibition of 'Fair Women' at the Grafton Gallery, but it was not exhibited there. ⁴⁴

The Morning Post, commenting on the Exhibition of International Art, International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers, Knightsbridge, London, 1898, related Whistler's self-portrait Gold and Brown y462 to the recent case involving Brown and Gold: Portrait of Lady Eden which was referenced but not actually exhibited in the show:

'Gold and Brown is the name given to a sketch-portrait of the painter, his hand raised as gesticulating responsively to an utterance of his that may be assumed to have gleeful reference to the result of his litigation in Paris, since the catalogue contains extracts from the summing up of the Advocate-General and the judgment of the President of the Court of Appeal.' ⁴⁵

By the explicit terms of Miss Birnie Philip's gift, it can neither be lent or exhibited, although it has occasionally been shown in the Hunterian itself.

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. 408), plate 271, as 'Brown and Gold: Portrait of Lady Eden'.

Authored by Whistler

• Exhibition of International Art, International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers, Knightsbridge, London, 1898, Illustrated Souvenir Edition, p. 21 (cat. no. 179) quoting the Cour d'Appel judgement of 1897. Note: the portrait of Lady Eden was not exhibited.
• Whistler, James McNeill, Eden versus Whistler: The Baronet and the Butterfly. A Valentine with a Verdict, Paris: Louis-Henry May, 1899.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• Exposition Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Champ de Mars, Paris, 1894 (cat. no. 1187) as 'Brun et or; – Portrait de Lady E.'

Newspapers 1855-1905

• Anon., 'ACTION AGAINST MR. WHISTLER', Lincolnshire Echo, 28 February 1895, p. 3.
• Anon., 'MR. WHISTLER AND LADY EDEN'S PORTRAIT', London Evening Standard, 28 February 1895, p. 3.
• Anon., 'Fourth Edition', Pall Mall Gazette, London, 28 February 1895, pp. 6-8.
• Anon., 'SIR W. EDEN AND MR. WHISTLER', Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser, Manchester, 21 March 1895, p. 5.
• Anon., 'Notes', St James's Gazette, London, 21 March 1895, pp. 3-4.
• Anon., 'Masters of Arts', Pall Mall Gazette, London, 21 March 1895, p. 1.
• Anon., 'MR. WHISTLER AND LADY EDEN'S PORTRAIT', Evening Mail, London, 22 March 1895, p. 1.
• Anon., 'Lady Eden's Portrait', London Evening Standard, London, 25 March 1895, p. 5.
• Anon., 'Eden v. Whistler', Pall Mall Gazette, London, 26 March 1895, p. 4.
• Huret, Jules, 'L'Artiste et le baronnet', Le Figaro, Paris, 27 March 1895, reprinted in Tout yeux tout oreilles, Paris, 1901, online at https://gallica.bnf.fr.
• Anon, 'The gentlewoman', Gentlewoman, London, 30 March 1895, p. 25, photograph of Lady Eden repr.
• Anon., The Scotsman, Edinburgh, 30 March 1895, p. 11.
• Anon., 'MR WHISTLER AND LADY EDEN'S PORTRAIT', Edinburgh Evening News, Edinburgh, 3 April 1895, p. 6.
• Anon., 'Our London Letter', Shipley Times and Express, Shipley, 6 April 1895, p. 4 (syndicated).
• Anon., 'France', Morning Post, London, 19 November 1897, p. 5.
• Anon., 'The Paris Appeal', St James's Gazette, London, 19 November 1897, p. 12.
• Anon., 'Lady Eden's Portrait', Northern Echo, Durham, 19 November 1897, p. 3.
• Anon., 'France', Morning Post, London, 26 November 1897, p. 3.
• Anon., 'Lady Eden's Portrait', St James's Gazette, London, 26 November 1897, p. 6.
• Anon., Globe, London, 3 December 1897, p. 3.
• Anon., 'The End of the Whistler Case', Morning Post, London, 3 December 1897, p. 5.
• Anon., 'Fourth Edition', Pall Mall Gazette, London, 3 December 1897, p. 7.
• Anon., 'The Whistler Action', London Evening Standard, London, 3 December 1897, pp. 6-7.
• Anon., St James's Gazette, London, 3 December 1897, pp. 6-7.
• 'The International Gallery', Morning Post, London, 19 May 1898, p. 8.
• Anon., Westminster Gazette, London, 15 May 1899, p. 2.

NOTE: There was very wide coverage of the case at all stages, including many syndicated and repetitive accounts: the newspapers cited above are only a small selection of these. To search for further accounts, see the website of https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk.

Journals 1855-1905

• Bouyer, Raymond, 'L'Art et la vie au Salon du Champ-de-Mars', L'Artiste, vol. 7, June 1894, at p. 411.
• Docquois, Georges, 'Brun et or. Conversation avec M. Whistler', Le Journal, 15 Avril 1895, p. 2.

Monographs

• Whistler, James McNeill, Eden versus Whistler: The Baronet and the Butterfly. A Valentine with a Verdict, Paris: Louis-Henry May, 1899.

Books on Whistler

• Anderson, Ronald, and Ann Koval, James McNeill Whistler: Beyond the Myth, London, 1994, pp. 373-74, 386-88.
• Cary, Elizabeth Luther, The Works of James McNeill Whistler: A Study, with a Tentative List of Artist’s Works, New York, 1907, p. 28 (cat. no. 498).
• Duret, Théodore, Histoire de J. McN. Whistler et de son oeuvre, Paris, 1904, pp. 184-91.
• Eddy, Arthur Jerome, Recollections and Impressions of James A. McNeill Whistler, Philadelphia and London, 1903, pp. 266-69.
• Enaud-Lechien, Isabelle, James Whistler, le peintre et le polémiste (1834-1903), Courbevoie, 1995, p. 168.
• MacDonald, Margaret F., Susan Galassi, Aileen Ribeiro, and Patricia de Montfort, Whistler, Women and Fashion, New Haven and London, 2003, p. 44.
• McMullen, Roy, Victorian Outsider: a Biography of J. A. M. Whistler, London, 1974, p. 257.
• Pearson, Hesketh, The Man Whistler, London, 1952, pp. 161-63.
• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Life of James McNeill Whistler, 2 vols, London and Philadelphia, 1908, vol. 2, pp. 158, 163-65, 183, 196-99.
• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Life of James McNeill Whistler, 5th (revised) edition, London and Philadelphia, 1911, pp. 322, 348.
• Petri, Grischka, Arrangement in Business: The Art Markets and the Career of James McNeill Whistler, Hildesheim, 2011, pp. 457, 547-48, 592.
• Rothenstein, William, Men and Memories: Recollections of William Rothenstein ..., 2 vols, London, 1931-1932, at vol. 1, p. 270.
• Sickert, Bernhard, Whistler, London and New York, 1908, p. 167 (cat. no. 120).
• Spencer, Robin (ed.), Whistler: A Retrospective, New York, 1989, repr. pl. 110.
• Sutherland, Daniel E., Whistler: A Life for Art's Sake, New Haven and London, 2014, pp. 273, 284.
• Sutton, Denys, Nocturne: The Art of James McNeill Whistler, London, 1963, p. 128.
• Walker, John, James McNeill Whistler, New York, 1987, p. 126.
• Weintraub, Stanley, Whistler: A Biography, London, 1974, pp. 409-13.

Books, General

• Barbier, Carl P., (ed.), Correspondance Mallarmé-Whistler: Histoire de la grande amitié de leurs dernières années, Paris, 1964, pp. 229-47.
• Causey, Andrew, 'Eden vs. Whistler: The Baronet and the Butterfly', The Trials of Art, Daniel McClean (ed.), London, 2007, pp. 151-57.
• Eden, Sir Timothy Calvert, The Tribulations of a Baronet, London, 1933, pp. 54-78, watercolour repr. p. 56, pencil drawing repr. fp. 78.
• Harris, Frank, Contemporary Portraits, New York, 1915, pp. 82-83.
• Hartrick, Archibald S., A Painter's Pilgrimage Through Fifty Years, Cambridge, 1939, p. 114.
• McConkey, Kenneth, Edwardian Portraits, Images of an Age of Opulence, Woodbridge, 1987, pp. 26, 140-41, repr. pl. 38.
• Merryman, John, Law, Ethics and the Visual Arts, third edition, London, 1998, p. 234.
• Wilkes, Lyall, The Aesthetic Obsession, London et al, 1985, pp. 35, 40-41, watercolour by Eden repr. p. 41.

Catalogues 1906-Present

• Newton, Joy, Whistler's French Connections, Glasgow University Library, Glasgow, 1988, n.p. (cat. no. 29).
• Gerdts, William H., Lasting Impressions.American Painters in France 1865-1915, Museé Americain, Giverny, 1992, pp. 39, 117 note 69.
• Dorment, Richard, and Margaret F. MacDonald, James McNeill Whistler, Tate Gallery, London, Musée d’Orsay, Paris, and National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1994-1995, pp. 251, 302, 314-16 (not exhibited).

Journals 1906-Present

• Sutton, Denys, 'A Statesman's Collection', Apollo, vol. 89, 1969, p. 461.

Websites

• The Hunterian website at http://collections.gla.ac.uk/#/details/ecatalogue/41205.
• Purdue, A. W., 'Eden, Sir William, seventh baronet and fifth baronet (1849-1915)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; website at http://www.oxforddnb.com.

Unpublished

• Revillon, Joseph Whistler, Draft Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings of J. McN. Whistler, [ca 1945-1955], Glasgow University Library (cat. no. 198).

Other

• None.