The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Portrait of Richard A. Canfield dates from 1901 to 1903. ¹

1901: In March, Richard Albert Canfield (1855-1914) enquired through an intermediary about the possibility of acquiring a painting. ² On 20 July Canfield sent Whistler a cheque for £500 on account for 'two works ... important in size' leaving the subjects 'to your own decision.' ³

1902: Canfield started to pose at the beginning of March 1902. ⁴ In April Canfield sent a second cheque ‘for certain pictures not completed’, which Whistler returned, saying:

'You have seen that the work is all absorbing - and indeed I myself, find the difficulties in the brush quite sufficient in themselves, without allowing them to become complicated with anything distantly resembling responsibility of any kind! ...

I think it will not be at all difficult for you, who have so far shown such ready understanding, to see, with me, that this is as much of a link with business as I can stand in the midst of incompleted work.' ⁵

The Pennells said it was 'just begun' in May 1902, but later revised this date to 24 April 1902. ⁶ Canfield was still posing on 8 May 1902, but his departure for America was imminent. ⁷

1903: according to Gardiner, Canfield returned to Europe to sit for Whistler at the New Year and posed every day until 16 May 1903, when he sailed for New York. ⁸ Whistler was certainly working on the portrait during January and February, and on 16 February, for instance, Whistler suggested a sitting for the following day, saying 'we might see if "his Reverence" were in a good humour?!' ⁹ On 28 February Whistler suggested that the art dealer William Stephen Marchant (1868-1925) could arrange 'the departure of the picture.' ¹⁰ Sittings continued, despite delays when Whistler was too ill; 'we must not spoil things through haste' he wrote, adding, ' "His Reverence" moreover only gains by being left alone!' ¹¹ However, the artist died before the painting could be completed.

Images

Subject

Titles

Variant titles have been suggested:

• 'his Reverence' (1903, Whistler). ¹²
• ‘Portrait des Herrn Richard Canfield’ (1910, Ausstellung Amerikanischer Kunst, Berlin). ¹³
• 'Portrait of Richard A. Canfield' (1980, YMSM). ¹⁴

'Portrait of Richard A. Canfield' is the preferred title.

Description

Portrait of Richard A. Canfield, private collection

A head and shoulders portrait of a man with short dark hair, wearing a black coat, against a dark background. His left arm crosses his body, the hand partly visible at the left edge of the canvas. It is in vertical format.

Sitter

Richard Albert Canfield (1855-1914)

Richard A. Canfield, photograph, National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame

Richard A. Canfield, the owner of fashionable gambling houses in New York, Saratoga and Newport, was also a man of culture, and a collector. He sold his very fine collection of works by Whistler to Knoedler’s in 1914 for $300,000. Canfield’s deceptive appearance of respectability caused Whistler to call the portrait ‘His Reverence’. ¹⁵

The Pennells disapproved of Whistler's friendship with Canfield, of which they wrote at length:

'Mr. Canfield was sitting at this time again for his portrait, and during his stay in London he was very much in the studio where he was always welcome, not as a sitter only, but even as a friend. He seemed almost to have hypnotised Whistler, whom we heard say once that Canfield was the only man who had never made a mistake in the studio. We could not help regretting this because of Canfield's notorious reputation in New York, and because of the unpleasant things which were being said of Whistler's tolerance of the man. Whistler had been warned, but had sacrificed a friendship of years in his indignation at "a breath of scandal" against any one whom he had introduced to "the Ladies." In the early part of 1903 we received numerous letters and telegrams from correspondents of American papers in London, all re-echoing the question in the big New York dailies "Is Whistler painting gambler Canfield?" Whistler's condition rendered any remark which might excite him impossible, and everybody now hesitated to suggest to him that Canfield was a very public character to include in one's private circle. Canfield's visits did not cease, and the one fact that reconciled us to his presence in the studio was that it resulted in one of Whistler's masterpieces. The portrait, His Reverence, ... is certainly the finest of his later portraits.' ¹⁶

Henry Wolf after Whistler, Portrait of Richard A. Canfield,woodcut, Freer Gallery of Art

In 1908 Canfield sent Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919) a woodcut by Henry Wolf (1852-1916) after Whistler's portrait, and this woodcut is now in the Freer Gallery of Art (F1908.242 a-b). ¹⁷

Technique

Technique

Portrait of Richard A. Canfield, private collection

It is painted thinly on fairly fine weave canvas. A few bolder brushstrokes were used in the modelling of the face, and there are small dots of paint as highlights on the eyes.

In 1908 the Pennells thought it ‘one of Whistler’s master-pieces’, but in 1911 wrote that ‘this was our estimate when we saw the picture in Whistler’s studio. Later it was simply ruined, for he worked on it.' ¹⁸

Conservation History

Portrait of Richard A. Canfield, private collection

Portrait of Richard A. Canfield, photograph, 1920

Portrait of Richard A. Canfield, photograph, 1980

Old photographs suggest that it was slightly abraded at the edges, but recent photographs suggest it in good condition.

Frame

Portrait of Richard A. Canfield, photograph, 1920

A 1920 photograph of the frame is reproduced above.

History

Provenance

• 1901: commissioned by Richard Albert Canfield (1855-1914), New York and Providence, RI;
• 1903: in Whistler's studio at his death and sent by Whistler's executrix, Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958), to Canfield;
• 1914: bequeathed to his son, Howland D. Canfield (1899-1922);
• 1920: bought from him on 28 January 1920 by Knoedler, New York dealers;
• 1922: sold by them to Cincinnati Art Museum, 6 February 1922;
• 1945: sold at auction, Parke-Bernet, New York, 18 October 1945 (lot 30), and possibly bought by 'H. C. Philip'.
• 1961: sold at auction, Parke-Bernet, New York, 28 April 1961 (lot 65), and bought by Manuel K. Berman (1908-1992), Brookline;
• 1992: passed by family descent to a private collection.

In March 1901 Canfield enquired through an intermediary about the possibility of acquiring a painting from Whistler. ¹⁹ On 20 July he sent Whistler a cheque for £500 on account for 'two works ... important in size.' ²⁰ In April 1902 Canfield sent a second cheque ‘for certain pictures not completed’, which Whistler returned, saying: 'I must beg you to take care of this pretty paper (a check) yet for the time being! ... this is as much of a link with business as I can stand in the midst of incompleted work.' ²¹

On 8 May 1903 Whistler acknowledged a cheque from Canfield for £1439.11.0 for 'paintings, drawings & lithographs' and added cryptically, 'About the portrait - it shall be as we have agreed!' ²²

After Whistler’s death on 17 July 1903, the portrait was still in his studio in London. His executrix Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958) sent it to the London art dealer, W. Marchant, for delivery to Canfield. ²³

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. 547), plate 363.

Authored by Whistler

• None.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• None.

Journals 1855-1905

• None.

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. 279, 292.
• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Life of James McNeill Whistler, 5th (revised) edition, London and Philadelphia, 1911, p. 423.
• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Whistler Journal, Philadelphia, 1921, pp. 234-35, repr. f.p. 234.
• Petri, Grischka, Arrangement in Business: The Art Markets and the Career of James McNeill Whistler, Hildesheim, 2011, p. 528.
• Sutherland, Daniel E., Whistler: A Life for Art's Sake, New Haven and London, 2014, pp. 336, 415.

Books, General

• Gardiner, Alexander, Canfield: the True Story of the Greatest Gambler, Garden City, New York, 1930, pp. 127, 229-32, 234-37, photograph of sitter repr. f.p. 222.

Catalogues 1906-Present

EXHIBITION:

• Ausstellung Amerikanischer Kunst, Königliche Akademie der Künste, Berlin, 1910 (cat. no. 97) as ‘Portrait des Herrn Richard Canfield’.
• The Twenty-Ninth Annual Exhibition of American Art, Cincinnati Museum, Cicnnati, 1922 (cat. no. 22).
• 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. 202) as 'Portrait of Richard A. Canfield' or 'His Reverence'.

SALE:

• Parke-Bernet, New York, 18 October 1945 (lot 30).
• Parke-Bernet, New York, 28 April 1961 (lot 65).

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 pp. 330-1.

Websites

• Freer Gallery of Art website at http://collections.si.edu.

Unpublished

• Revillon, Joseph Whistler, Draft Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings of J. McN. Whistler, [ca 1945-1955], Glasgow University Library (cat. no. 239).

Other

• None.