The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Study for 'Brown and Gold: Lillie "In our Alley!" probably dates from 1898.

Study for 'Brown and Gold: Lillie "In our Alley!" ', National Gallery of Canada

Brown and Gold: Lillie 'In our Alley!', Fogg Art Museum

It is dated from its relationship to Brown and Gold: Lillie 'In our Alley!' y464, which was completed in December 1898. ¹

Images

Subject

Titles

Two possible titles have been suggested:

• 'Study for 'Brown and Gold: Lillie "In our Alley!" ' (1980, YMSM). ²
• 'Lillie in our Alley (The Lady of Lyme Regis)' (2015, National Gallery of Canada). ³

The Canadian website cited above comments:'The title of this painting alludes to the eighteenth-century ballad "Sally in Our Alley." … This painting has also been called "The Lady of Lyme Regis".'The latter title is very misleading, since the painting was not done in Lyme Regis and the model was a Londoner.

'Study for 'Brown and Gold: Lillie "In our Alley!" ' is the preferred title.

Description

Study for 'Brown and Gold: Lillie "In our Alley!" ', National Gallery of Canada

A half-length portrait of a girl in vertical format. She sits facing left, in three-quarter view to left, but looking sideways to her left, at the viewer. She has shoulder-length brown hair and a deep fringe, and wears a black cap. Her black dress has a high neck, and a greyish-white scarf or blouse is visible at the front. She is sitting on a wooden straight-backed chair. The background is dark brown.

Sitter

Lilian ('Lily') Pamington (b. 1887/1888).

Whistler painted about ten portraits of Lillie Pamington including Brown and Gold: Lillie 'In our Alley!' y464 and Lillie Pamington y466.

Technique

Composition

Study for 'Brown and Gold: Lillie "In our Alley!" ', National Gallery of Canada

Brown and Gold: Lillie 'In our Alley!', Fogg Art Museum

This is a study of Lillie Pamington for Brown and Gold: Lillie 'In our Alley!' y464. The main differences between the two are that in the study the chair is further right on the canvas, the white scarf, or shirt, is not so bright, and the hair is more abundant. Also the background of the study is dark green whereas in the final painting it is reddish brown. Furthermore there are touches of blue on her scarf, in the study, instead of the pinkish white of Brown and Gold: Lillie 'In our Alley!'.

Technique

Study for 'Brown and Gold: Lillie "In our Alley!" ', National Gallery of Canada

The surface of the painting is a bit uneven and the hand holding her hair looks smudged. The outline of her hat has been altered.

Spink commented that areas 'have been wiped to produce a quality of light and texture that Whistler sought.' ⁴ This was a common part of Whistler's painting process in later years.

Conservation History

Unknown.

Frame

Unknown.

History

Provenance

• 1903: in Whistler's studio at his death and bequeathed to his ward and executrix Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958);
• 1945: bought from her by Colnaghi, London dealers, 6 December 1945 (#A2249);
• 1946: sold to the National Gallery of Canada.

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. 463, plate 297, as 'Study for 'Brown and Gold: Lillie "In our Alley!" '.

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:

• Hubbard, Robert H., The National Gallery of Canada: Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture, II: Modern European Schools, Ottawa 1959, repr. p. 164.

EXHIBITION:

• Drawings by Victorian Artists in England, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa 1965 (cat. no. 167).
• Sweet, Frederick A., James McNeill Whistler, Art Institute of Chicago and Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, 1968 (cat. no. 50).
• Spink, Nesta, Whistler: The Later Years, University of Michigan Art Gallery, Ann Arbor, 1978 (cat. no. 87).

Journals 1906-Present

• Hubbard, Robert H., 'The Recent Acquisitions of the National Gallery of Canada', Art Quarterly, vol. 10, Summer 1947, pp. 223-31.

Websites

• Catalog of American Portraits, Smithsonian website at https://npg.si.edu/object/npg_4628_NGC.

Unpublished

• Revillon, Joseph Whistler, Draft Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings of J. McN. Whistler, [ca 1945-1955], Glasgow University Library (cat. no. 287).

Other

• None.