The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

A Distant Dome dates from between January and April 1901, when Whistler was convalescing in Ajaccio, Corsica. In January he complained about the constraints imposed by his health and the uncertain weather. ¹ In March he made some attempts at etching but complained: 'There seems to be no luck in the island here! and every thing I touch goes wrong! I think I had better try no more in the place - and get out of it directly I can - which is not so easy either!' ² In April, he wrote: 'It has stormed - and frozen & been terrible - and now today - it is simply amazing! 40 - degrees - out of doors in shade.' ³ This painting is likely to date from towards the end of his stay, as the weather became warm enough to paint out of doors.

Images

Subject

Titles

Only one title has been suggested:

• 'A Distant Dome' (1960, Arts Council). ⁴
• 'A Distant Dome' (1980, YMSM). ⁵

Description

A Distant Dome, The Hunterian

A landscape in horizontal format, with a view of a city from a green hill that crosses the foreground in a diagonal from upper left to the lower right corner. Several figures are walking on a path that winds down the hill, just to right of centre. In the middle distance, at left, is a large pillared building crowned with a lantern above the dome, while to right are buildings and either a tall column or chimney. The sky is cloudy, with touches of pale blue.

Site

The dome of Ajaccio cathedral – Cathédrale Notre-Dame de l'Assomption de Ajaccio, also known as the Cathédrale de l'Assomption de Sainte-Marie – is depicted from the hill of Salerio near the Parc Balestrino, Ajaccio, Corsica.

Whistler kept two sketchbooks showing people and views in Ajaccio. ⁶ He painted at least one portrait, A Corsican Child y544, and etched subjects in the city, such as Bohemians [486], Sleeping Child, Ajaccio (G.488) and Flaming Forge (G.490).

Technique

Technique

A Distant Dome, The Hunterian

It was painted on a single section of timber panel, probably mahogany. It was primed somewhat crudely with a light grey layer of paint applied with pronounced horizontal breaststrokes. Some of the priming is visible, forming part of the colour harmony.

It was probably painted in one session. It was painted quickly and freely, with no under-drawing, the details being added with a tiny pointed brush while the first coat was still wet, and with some light scraping. It was painted in a megilp-type material that dried fast and has now formed lead soap aggregates protruding through the surface. Compressed paint at the edges suggests it was slid into a paint-box for transport home, before it had dried. ⁷

Conservation History

The wood panel has an auxiliary backing and framing device, probably made from mahogany, with four adhered thin battens that have mitred corners; they have a slight bevel on the verso. ⁸ This form of auxiliary backing was probably done after Whistler's death.

The panel is structurally sound although the appearance of the panel suffers from thick glossy and yellowed layers of varnish, which cover the framing battens. ⁹

Frame

35.5 x 44.8 x 6.4 cm.

History

Provenance

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

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. 545), plate 346, as 'A Distant Dome'.

Authored by Whistler

• None.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• None.

Journals 1855-1905

• None.

Monographs

• None.

Books on Whistler

• Enaud-Lechien, Isabelle, James Whistler, le peintre et le polémiste (1834-1903), Courbevoie, 1995, p. 183, repr.
• Rotilly, Jocelyne, 'Napoléon et moi!' James Mcneill [sic] Whistler en Corse 1901, Marseilles, 2008.

Books, General

• None.

Catalogues 1906-Present

• Young, A. McLaren, James McNeill Whistler, Arts Council Gallery, London, and Knoedler Galleries, New York, 1960 (cat. no. 76) as 'A Distant Dome'.
• Spencer, Robin, James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903), Nationalgalerie, Berlin, 1969 (cat. no. 55).
• Pickvance, Ronald, James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903): An Exhibition of Works from the University of Glasgow Collection, Nottingham University Art Gallery, Nottingham, 1970 (cat. no. 18).
• Young, A. McLaren, Glasgow University's Pictures, Colnaghi, London, 1973 (cat. no. 92).
• ホイスラー展. Whistler Exhibition in Japan, Isetan Museum of Art, Tokyo; Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, Sapporo; Shizuoka Prefectural Museum, Shizuoka, 1986 (cat. no. 43).
• Hopkinson, Martin, From Apprentice to Master: Whistler's Graphic Art, Hunterian Art Gallery, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, 1992 (cat. no. 80).
• James McNeill Whistler: selected works from the Hunterian Art Gallery, Dixon Gallery, 2004-2005; Taft Museum of Art, 2005; Philbrook Museum of Art, 2005; Boca Raton Museum of Art, 2005-2006; Taylor Museum of the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, 2006; Nevada Museum of Art, 2007; Tyler Museum of Art, 2007 (cat. no. 12).
• Ayako Ono, ホイッスラー展. James McNeill Whistler Retrospective, National Museum of Modern Art, Kyōto, 2014, and Yokohama Museum of Art, 2014–2015 (cat. no. 91).

Journals 1906-Present

• Beretti, Francois, 'Whistler à Ajaccio en 1901' Bulletin de la Société des Sciences Historiques et Naturelles de la Corse, 1978, vol. 250, no. 629, pp. 43-52.
• Hopkinson, Martin J., 'Whistler in Corsica', Print Quarterly, vol. 26, 2009, pp. 66-67.
• 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. 334.

Websites

• The Hunterian website at http://collections.gla.ac.uk/#/details/ecatalogue/41298.
• ArtUK website at http://artuk.org.

Unpublished

• None.

Other

• None.