The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

The Boy in a Cloak dates from the late 1890s, between 1896 and 1900. ¹

The Boy in a Cloak, The Hunterian

Brun et or: De race, The Hunterian

It is dated from its relationship to another portrait of the same sitter, Brun et or: De race y511, and to portraits of the model's brother and sister, The Little Faustina y510 and Vert et or: Le Raconteur y513.

Arthur Jerome Eddy (1859-1920) wrote in 1903: 'Some years ago [Whistler] showed a visitor several heads of Italian children, each about ten or twelve, by sixteen or eighteen inches in size. With them was a three-quarter length of one of the children'; Whistler priced the portraits at 600 guineas each and the visitor wanted to buy the lot (four in number) but Whistler would not let them go, on the pretence that they were unfinished.' ²

Images

Subject

Titles

Only one main title is known:

• 'The Boy in a Cloak' (1905, Œuvres de James McNeill Whistler, Paris). ³
• 'Boy in a Cloak' (1936, University of Glasgow). ⁴
• 'The Boy in a Cloak' (1980, YMSM). ⁵

'The Boy in a Cloak' is the preferred title.

Description

The Boy in a Cloak, The Hunterian

A three-quarter length portrait of a boy, in vertical format. He stands in three-quarter view to left, looking at the viewer. He has shoulder-length brown hair, and wears a long dark cloak. He stands against a dark green background.

Sitter

Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919) of Detroit recorded seeing a portrait, 'Boy in the cloak' in Whistler's studio in 1903. ⁶ Freer also noted that Whistler had painted another portrait of this 'little boy with fine eyes'; he was also the model for Brun et or: De race y511.

Brun et or: De race, The Hunterian

The model's brother and sister also posed for Whistler (The Little Faustina y510, Vert et or: Le Raconteur y513). There is a strong family resemblance, particularly in their sallow colouring and the soft brown of the hair and eyes.

Technique

Technique

The Boy in a Cloak, The Hunterian

The face is so highly finished that there are no signs of brushwork (the thin paint has also been rubbed down to ensure a smooth texture), but by contrast the hands are conveyed by a few dabs of pink with a nearly dry brush. The eyes have a highlight of light brown instead of the usual touch of white.

Conservation History

Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919) recorded seeing a portrait, ' "Boy in the cloak" Background scrubbed by Mr. W.' in Whistler's studio in 1903. ⁷

Frame

130.5 x 106.2 x 8.2 cm. Like Brun et or: De race y511 the frame bears the label of Frederick Henry Grau (1859-1892), Whistler's frame-maker in London, and the canvas was probably acquired and painted in London.

History

Provenance

• 1903: in Whistler's studio at his death and bequeathed to his ward and executrix, Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958);
• 1935: given by Miss R. Birnie Philip to the University of Glasgow in 1935.

Exhibitions

• 1905: Œuvres de James McNeill Whistler, Palais de l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1905 (cat. no. 35) as 'The Boy in a Cloak'.

It was not, as far as is known, exhibited in Whistler's lifetime.

By the terms of Miss R. Birnie Philip's gift to the University of Glasgow, it cannot be lent to another venue.

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. 512, plate 353) as 'The Boy in a Cloak'.

Authored by Whistler

• None.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• Œuvres de James McNeill Whistler, Palais de l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1905 (cat. no. 35) as 'The Boy in a Cloak'.

Journals 1855-1905

• Bénédite, Léonce, L'Oeuvre de James MacNeill Whistler, Paris, 1905, repr. pl. 23.

Monographs

• None.

Books on Whistler

• Eddy, Arthur Jerome, Recollections and Impressions of James A. McNeill Whistler, Philadelphia and London, 1903, pp. 273-74.
• Enaud-Lechien, Isabelle, James Whistler, le peintre et le polémiste (1834-1903), Courbevoie, 1995, pp. 166-67, repr.
• Pousette-Dart, Nathaniel, (ed.), James McNeill Whistler,(with introduction by Joseph & Elizabeth Robins Pennell), New York, 1924, repr. p. 58.
• Spencer, Robin (ed.), Whistler: A Retrospective, New York, 1989, repr. pl. 115.

Books, General

• None.

Catalogues 1906-Present

• James McNeill Whistler, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, 1936 (cat. no. 25).

Journals 1906-Present

• None.

Websites

• The Hunterian website at http://collections.gla.ac.uk/#/details/ecatalogue/41069.
• ArtUK website at http://artuk.org.

Unpublished

• Revillon, Joseph Whistler, Draft Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings of J. McN. Whistler, [ca 1945-1955], Glasgow University Library (cat. no. 307).

Other

• None.