The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler
YMSM 446
Devonshire Daisy
Date
Devonshire Daisy dates from Whistler's visit to Lyme Regis between September and November 1895. 1
Ada Annie Govier (1885-1973), the daughter of Samuel Edward Govier (1857-1934), is said to have posed for Whistler at Lyme Regis for a portrait he called 'Devonshire Daisy'. 2
Images
Devonshire Daisy, Whereabouts unknown
The Little Rose of Lyme Regis, Boston MFA
Subject
Titles
Only one title is known:
- 'Devonshire Daisy' (1895, Whistler). 3
- 'Devonshire Daisy' (1980, YMSM). 4
The title is misleading because Lyme Regis is in Dorset not Devonshire.
Description
Unknown.
Sitter
Ada Annie Govier (1885-1973) was the daughter of Samuel Edward Govier (1857-1934) (who posed for The Master Smith of Lyme Regis y450).
She is said to have posed for a portrait Whistler called 'Devonshire Daisy' and as a reward he gave her a gold bracelet set with an amethyst. A novelist, the late Leonard Louis Levinson (1904-1974), interviewed the sitter (Mrs Case) in 1967 but she was unable to identify her portrait from the photographs he showed her. She married Albert George Case (1884-1976). She died in March 1973 at the age of 87. Her youngest grand-daughter, Stephanie Case, inherited the bracelet Whistler had given Ada as a reward for posing. 5
Comments
The Little Rose of Lyme Regis, Boston MFA
Few portraits survive from this period, the most notable being The Little Rose of Lyme Regis y449, illustrated above.
Technique
Technique
Unknown.
Conservation History
Unknown.
Frame
Unknown.
History
Provenance
Unknown.
Exhibitions
It was not exhibited in Whistlers lifetime, as far as is known.
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. 446) as 'Devonshire Daisy'.
Authored by Whistler
- None.
Catalogues 1855-1905
- None.
Journals 1855-1905
- None.
Monographs
- None.
Books on Whistler
- None.
Books, General
- None.
Catalogues 1906-Present
- None.
Journals 1906-Present
- None.
Websites
- None.
Unpublished
- None.
Other
- None.
Notes:
1: YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 446).
2: Information from L. L. Levinson, 1967, GUL WPP files.
3: Information from L. L. Levinson, 1967, GUL WPP.
4: YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 446).
5: Information from L. L. Levinson, 1967, GUL WPP.