The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Portrait of George W. Vanderbilt dates from 1897-1898. ¹

Portrait of George W. Vanderbilt, National Gallery of Art

1897: On 18 May 1897 George Washington Vanderbilt (1862-1914) asked Whistler, 'will you consider me a fit subject for a portrait? ... I cannot begin to tell you how much I want an example of your great work.' ² Whistler replied,

'I think I may frankly say that I would not ask for a more sympathetic subject than yourself, and therefore am greatly pleased at the prospect of painting your portrait -

I expect to return shortly to London - and will let you know directly I have got back to my studio.' ³

It was started in London in June and continued in August. ⁴ When Vanderbilt was due to return to the USA, Whistler wrote: 'I was ... quite shocked to hear your threat of sudden departure for America! I certainly never looked forward to any such undue haste in the midst of the work we have on the easel!' ⁵

Vanderbilt returned to Europe on 15 December, and the portrait was sent to Paris where Whistler was 'finishing as fast as I can,' as he told William Heinemann (1863-1920). ⁶ Whistler then announced that the 'great work' was finished and asked 1000 guineas for it, and a further 1000 guineas when the portrait was delivered 'after we have put the very last little dainty polish upon it.' ⁷ Vanderbilt agreed to Whistler's terms, saying, 'j'ai un beau portrait.' ⁸

1898: In Paris in August Vanderbilt sat for the 'last touches' and was 'most enthusiastic about his picture', finally sending a cheque for 'the masterpiece' on 25 August. ⁹

1899: Whistler complained he could not escape from 'Vanderbilt and complications of portraits "while you wait" ! - - - maddening!' ¹⁰

1901: In February Vanderbilt again offered to sit for 'those last touches' but Whistler proposed to give him back his cheque 'until I am well enough to finish his picture!' ¹¹

1902: Vanderbilt sat (or rather stood) again for his portrait in June, and offered to do so in December. ¹²

1903: The portrait remained unfinished although Vanderbilt asked for further sittings. ¹³ Whistler died on 17 July, and the painting was in Whistler's studio at his death.

Images

Subject

Titles

Possible titles include:

• 'Portrait of George W. Vanderbilt' (1980, YMSM). ¹⁴
• 'George W. Vanderbilt' (2015, National Gallery of Art). ¹⁵

'Portrait of George W. Vanderbilt' is the preferred title.

Description

Portrait of George W. Vanderbilt, National Gallery of Art

A full length portrait of a man in vertical format. He wears a grey suit, a white shirt with high collar and black bow tie, and he holds a slim cane with both hands. It crosses his thighs, at a slight diagonal from lower left to higher at right. Behind him, a grey wall with a white dado runs from centre left diagonally back into the dark depths of the room at right.

Sitter

George W. Vanderbilt, photograph

George Washington Vanderbilt (1862-1914). In December 1897 when the first stage of the portrait was over, Whistler wrote to Vanderbilt: 'And for once I think I may say as Ingres did when he was confronted with his own portrait of Prince Napoléon, Quel beau portrait que vous avez là mon Prince!' ¹⁶

Théodore Duret (1838-1927) commented on the extreme thinness of the legs as being true to life. ¹⁷

Vanderbilt also commissioned portraits of his wife and child (Ivoire et or: Portrait de Madame Vanderbilt y515 and Portrait of a Baby y549).

Technique

Composition

Portrait of George W. Vanderbilt, National Gallery of Art

Portrait of George Vanderbilt, The Hunterian

A pencil sketch, Portrait of George Vanderbilt m1505, is closely related to the oil, except that the legs are further apart and his left leg not so far forward as in the painting.

Technique

Portrait of George W. Vanderbilt, National Gallery of Art

It is on a medium weave canvas, and was painted extremely thinly, with layers of soft flickering brushstrokes, much rubbed down, so the result is insubstantial, the figure fading into shadow. The collar and the face, however, were finished with slightly thicker paint, and broader brushstrokes on the forehead and cheeks.

There are signs of pentimenti around the head, the sleeve on the left was originally further left, and (also at left) his right hand was tried out lower and to left. His right hand, possibly holding a grey glove as well as the cane, was originally lower.

Conservation History

The Pennells thought that: 'not one of his other portraits of men interested Whistler so much; certainly not one was finer than the picture when we saw it in the London studio. But it was a wreck in the Paris Memorial Exhibition of 1905 ... it had been worked over too often.' ¹⁸

Portrait of George W. Vanderbilt, photograph, 1980

Portrait of George W. Vanderbilt, National Gallery of Art

It was restored about 1995, with considerable difficulty because of the thinness of Whistler's paint.

Frame

Size: 229 x 113 x 7 cm (90 1/4 x 44 1/2 x 2 3/4").

It is possible that Claude Chapuis (1829-1908) in Paris had it for framing or packing in July 1899. ¹⁹

History

Provenance

• 1898: sold by the artist to George Washington Vanderbilt (1862-1914), Asheville, North Carolina, but retained by the artist;
• 1903: in Whistler's studio at his death;
• 1904: sent by the artist's executrix, Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958), to the sitter;
• 1914: bequeathed to Vanderbilt's widow, Edith Stuyvesant Vanderbilt (1873-1958), later Mrs. Peter G. Gerry, Asheville, North Carolina, and Providence, Rhode Island;
• 1959: after her death, given to the National Gallery of Art.

It was commissioned by the sitter in May 1897. ²⁰ Vanderbilt sent the final cheque on 25 August 1898. ²¹ The portrait was in Whistler's studio at his death in 1903 and passed into the keeping of his ward and executrix, Miss R. Birnie Philip, who showed it to Vanderbilt and his wife in January 1904. ²² It was then delivered to Vanderbilt.

Exhibitions

• 1905: Œuvres de James McNeill Whistler, Palais de l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1905 (cat. no. 22) as 'Inachevé – (Le dernier portrait en pied que Whistler ait peint)'.

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. 481), plate 310, as 'Portrait of George W. Vanderbilt'.

Authored by Whistler

• None.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• Œuvres de James McNeill Whistler, Palais de l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1905 (cat. no. 22), as 'Inachevé – (Le dernier portrait en pied que Whistler ait peint)'.

Journals 1855-1905

• None.

Monographs

• None.

Books on Whistler

• Cary, Elizabeth Luther, The Works of James McNeill Whistler: A Study, with a Tentative List of Artist’s Works, New York, 1907, no. 191, 188.
• Duret, Théodore, Histoire de J. McN. Whistler et de son oeuvre, Paris, 1904, pp. 173-74.
• Duret, Théodore, trans. by Frank Rutter, Whistler, English edition, London, 1917, pp. 116-17.
• McMullen, Roy, Victorian Outsider: A Biography of J.A.M. Whistler, New York, 1973, p. 268.
• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Life of James McNeill Whistler, 2 vols, London and Philadelphia, 1908, vol. 2, p. 203.
• Sutton, Denys, Nocturne: The Art of James McNeill Whistler, London, 1963, p. 134, fig. 56.
• Sutton, Denys, James McNeill Whistler: Paintings, Etchings, Pastels and Watercolours, London, 1966, p. 38, 197, pl. 123.
• Sutherland, Daniel E., Whistler: A Life for Art's Sake, New Haven and London, 2014, p. 335.

Books, General

• Williams, William James, A Heritage of American Paintings from the National Gallery of Art, New York, 1981, repr. 131, 133, 135.

Catalogues 1906-Present

COLLECTION

• American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970 (cat. no. 122), repr.
• American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980 (cat. no. 259), repr.
• American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992 (cat. no. 382), repr.
• Torchia, Robert Wilson, with Deborah Chotner and Ellen G. Miles, American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part II. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue, Washington, DC, 1998, pp. 261-64, repr.

EXHIBITIONS:

• Spencer, Robin, James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903), Nationalgalerie, Berlin, 1969 (cat. no. 52).
• On loan for display with the permanent collection, Biltmore House and Gardens, Asheville, North Carolina, 1972-1974.
• Post-Impressionism: Cross-Currents in European and American Painting 1880-1906, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1980 (cat. no. 255), repr.
• American Portraiture in the Grand Manner: 1720-1920, Los Angeles County Museum of Art; National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC, 1981-1982 (cat. no. 65), 67-68, 194-195, repr. pl. 65.
• 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 (cat. no. 199) (not shown in the exhibition).
• Whistler and Vanderbilt: An Artist and His Patron, Biltmore House, Asheville, 1999 (no catalogue).
• The Year 1900: Art at the Crossroads, Royal Academy of Arts, London; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 2000 (cat. no. 89) repr.
• Merrill, Linda, et al., After Whistler: The Artist and His Influence on American Painting, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, 2003, p. 154, repr. fig. 97 (not exhibited).
• High Society: American Portraits of the Gilded Age, Bucerius Kunst Forum, Hamburg, 2008 (cat. no. 11), repr.
• Americani a Firenze: Sargent e gli impressionisti del Nuovo Mondo (Americans in Florence: Sargent and the American Impressionists), Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, 2012 (cat. no. 33), repr.

Journals 1906-Present

• MacInnes, Margaret F., [M. F. MacDonald], 'Whistler's Last Years: Spring 1901 - Algiers and Corsica', Gazette des beaux-arts, vol. 73, 1969, pp. 323-42, at p. 330.

Websites

• National Gallery of Art website at http://www.nga.gov.

Unpublished

• Revillon, Joseph Whistler, Draft Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings of J. McN. Whistler, [ca 1945-1955], Glasgow University Library (cat. no. 226).

Other

• None.