The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Brown and Gold: The Curé's Little Class dates from July 1896. ¹

It was painted in the church of St Catherine, Honfleur, when Whistler was on a trip to Honfleur with the art dealer Edward Guthrie Kennedy (1849-1932), in July 1896. ²

Brown and Gold: The Curé's Little Class, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art

On 14 July 1896 Whistler wrote that he had begun a picture in the church: 'Went into the church - which is excellent - and began a little picture - If I could have found the old woman or a verger I should have put up a candle for Trixie - Indeed I wish I were a Catholic.' ³ On 18 July he complained, 'I have not been able to manage anything in the way of painting - with the exception of a little bit in the church which is not particularly satisfactory.' ⁴ However, as soon as Whistler was back in London, he sold 'The little St Catherine' on 23 July 1896. ⁵

In December 1896 The Academy and Literature described it with several other paintings including Green and Violet: The Evening Walk, Dieppe y328 as 'charming.' ⁶

Images

Subject

Titles

Several variations on the title are known:

• 'The little St. Catherine' (1896, Whistler). ⁷
• 'Honfleur Church' (1896, Whistler). ⁸
• 'Brown and Gold – The Curé's Little Class' (1899, Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts). ⁹
• 'Brown and Gold: The Curé's Little Class' (1980, YMSM). ¹⁰

'Brown and Gold: The Curé's Little Class' is the preferred title.

Description

Brown and Gold: The Curé's Little Class, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art

An interior scene in a church, in horizontal format. There are rows of wooden pews, with the class sitting at far left. Across the back is a very broad arch with broad pillars at left and right and two narrow ones in the middle, supporting the first floor balcony.

Site

This was painted in the church of St Catherine, when Whistler was on a trip to Honfleur with E. G. Kennedy, New York art dealer, in July 1896. Whistler referred to it as the 'Honfleur Church' and 'The little St Catherine.' ¹¹

After his wife's death, Whistler found some consolation in the shrines and rituals of the Roman Catholic Church when he was travelling with Kennedy (they spent a week, travelling to Le Havre, Honfleur and Trouville). The unusual subject probably reflects this interest. Indeed, when he had just started this painting on 14 July 1896 Whistler told his sister-in-law, 'If I could have found the old woman or a verger I should have put up a candle for Trixie - Indeed I wish I were a Catholic.' ¹²

Comments

This is one of several religious sites drawn or painted by Whistler around this time, including St John's, Westminster y454, St Anne's, Soho c162 and St Giles-in-the-Fields c167.

Technique

Technique

Brown and Gold: The Curé's Little Class, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art

The pale grey ground shows through the long strokes of thin paint.

Conservation History

Brown and Gold: The Curé's Little Class, photograph, 1965

Brown and Gold: The Curé's Little Class, photograph, 1970s

Brown and Gold: The Curé's Little Class, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art

Unknown. Photographs show little change since the 1960s, except that some abrasion and paint loss at the edges appears to have been repaired.

Frame

Unknown.

History

Provenance

• 1896: sold by the artist to Goupil, London art dealers;
• 1896/1902: bought from Goupil's by John James Cowan (1846-1936), Edinburgh.
• 1925/1935: bought from William O'Leary, art dealer, Detroit, by John L. Robertson (dates unknown), Scranton, PA;
• Date unknown: passed to his wife, Mrs J. L. Robertson, and their daughter, Mrs Jean Maloney (dates unknown) (Mrs Robert W. Maloney Jr.);
• ]1958?]: sold to Knoedler's, New York dealers (#CA 5473) and exhibited at Knoedler's in 1965;
• 1967: sold by Knoedler's to Norman Bailey Woolworth (1901-1962), Winthrop.
• 1976-1977: with Hirschl & Adler, New York art dealers;
• 1978: given by Mrs Jean R. Maloney in memory of Rosa Chisman (d. 1942) to Cornell University.

It was sold with Sea, Honfleur y456 on 23 July 1896, as the artist told E. G. Kennedy: 'The little St. Catherine & the tiny sea bit you brought back are sold "en bloc" this afternoon.' ¹³ However Whistler told D. C. Thomson of Goupil's, who had bought these oils, that he thought 'the church' needed 'a little more sight' in the frame. ¹⁴ It was bought from Goupil's by J. J. Cowan who sent Whistler a photograph of 'The curé's class' and other works in his collection. ¹⁵ There are gaps in the subsequent provenance, and the records are confusing and contradictory. .

Exhibitions

• 1899: Thirty-eighth Exhibition of Works of Modern Artists, Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts, Glasgow, 1899 (cat. no. 198) as 'Brown and Gold – The Curé's Little Class'.
• 1904: 78th Exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, 1904 (cat. no. 312).
• 1905: Memorial Exhibition of the Works of the late James McNeill Whistler, First President of The International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers, New Gallery, Regent Street, London, 1905 (cat. no. 106) as 'The Curé's Little Class' and, in deluxe edition, as 'Brown and Gold, The Curé's Little Class'.

On 8 April 1899, the Glasgow Herald dismissed it as showing Whistler was 'not always at his best'.

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. 455), plate 303, as 'Brown and Gold: The Curé's Little Class'.

Authored by Whistler

• None.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• Thirty-eighth Exhibition of Works of Modern Artists, Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts, Glasgow, 1899 (cat. no. 198) as 'Brown and Gold – The Curé's Little Class'.
• 78th Exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, 1904 (cat. no. 312).
• Memorial Exhibition of the Works of the late James McNeill Whistler, First President of The International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers, New Gallery, Regent Street, London, 1905 (cat. no. 106)

Newspapers 1855-1905

• Anon., 'Royal Institute Exhibition', Glasgow Herald, 8 April 1899, p. 7.
• Anon., 'The Whistler Exhibition', Dundee Courier, Dundee, 28 February 1905, p. 4.

Journals 1855-1905

• The Academy and Literature, 26 December 1896, vol. 50, no. 1256, p. 600.
• Thomson, David Croal, ‘New Pictures by Mr. Whistler’,Art Journal, January 1897, pp. 10-11, at p. 1l, repr. p. 10.
• Scott, William, 'Reminiscences of Whistler. Some Venice Recollections', The Studio, vol. 30, November 1903, pp. 97-108, at p. 102.

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, pp. 174-75.

Books, General

• None.

Catalogues 1906-Present

• 18th, 19th, and 20th Century American Paintings, Knoedler Galleries, New York, 1965 (cat. no. 54).
• Spink, Nesta, Whistler: The Later Years, University of Michigan Art Gallery, Ann Arbor, 1978 (cat. no. 59).

Journals 1906-Present

• None.

Websites

• Cornell University website at http://emuseum.cornell.edu.

Unpublished

• Revillon, Joseph Whistler, Draft Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings of J. McN. Whistler, [ca 1945-1955], Glasgow University Library (cat. no. 317).

Other

• None.