The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Portrait of a Baby may date from between 1900 and 1902. ¹

1900: On 20 February 1900 Whistler mentioned to Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958), 'I should like that head of the baby I did at Etretat' sent to Paris. ²

Le Bébé français, The Hunterian

It has been assumed that this refers to Le Bébé français y484, but it could have been another portrait, possibly Portrait of a Baby y549.

Portrait of a Baby, Private Collection

Mrs Vanderbilt and baby Cornelia, photograph

1902: It could, however, be a portrait of Cornelia Vanderbilt (1900-1976), who was born on 22 August 1900. On 13 January 1902 her father George Washington Vanderbilt (1862-1914) wrote to Whistler, 'I think when you see Cornelia you will feel like doing that head of her that we all thought would be so fine.' ³ The Vanderbilts were in Europe in April 1902 and although there is no record of Whistler having painted her portrait, Cornelia would have been twenty months old in April 1902, which would suit the age of the child in the portrait.

The technique in both portraits is compatible with Whistler's work between 1900 and 1902.

Images

Subject

Titles

The suggested titles are as follows:

• ‘L’Enfant’ (1902, Drouot). ⁴
• ‘Portrait of a Baby’ (1905, Œuvres de James McNeill Whistler, Paris). ⁵
• 'Portrait of a baby' (1980, YMSM). ⁶

'Portrait of a baby' is the preferred title.

Description

Portrait of a Baby, Private Collection

An unfinished sketch of a baby in a white dress looking straight at the viewer, against a dark background. The portrait is in vertical format.

Sitter

Mrs Vanderbilt and baby Cornelia, photograph, Biltmore

This may be a portrait of Cornelia Vanderbilt (1900-1976), born 22 August 1900, the daughter of George Washington Vanderbilt (1862-1914) and his wife Edith Stuyvesant Dresser (1873–1958). Cornelia would have been twenty months old in April 1902, when the Vanderbilts were in Paris, which would suit the age of the child in the portrait. However, although a possible commission had been suggested by her father, there is no mention of this actually being painted at the time. ⁷

Technique

Composition

Portrait of a Baby, photograph of canvas at right angles to portrait

Underneath the portrait, at right angles to the portrait, there are traces of a beach scene with, at right, several windblown figures walking by the sea.

Technique

Portrait of a Baby, Private Collection

The canvas is roughly equivalent to the French ‘toile de 12’ (61 x 46 cm) in size and was probably acquired in Paris. The face is quite highly finished but the lower half of the canvas is only roughly brushed over.

Conservation History

Portrait of a Baby, photograph of canvas at right angles to portrait

Portrait of a Baby, reproduction in catalogue, Hotel Drouot, 1902

Photographs suggest it has been cleaned and perhaps repaired and restored. Traces of the underlying beach scene are still visible at right angles to the portrait. According to Andrew McLaren Young (1913-1975), who saw the canvas in the 1960s, it had been relined about 1958. ⁸

Frame

Unknown. According to Professor Young, it was not in a Whistler-style frame.

History

Provenance

Portrait of a Baby, photograph, Hotel Drouot, 1902

• 1900/1902: acquired by Jules Strauss (1861-1943);
• 1902: sold at auction, Jules Strauss Sale, Hotel Drouot, Paris, 3 May 1902 (lot 71) as ‘L’Enfant’ for 14,500 francs.
• By 1905: owned by George Washington Vanderbilt (1862-1914), Asheville, N.C.;
• 1914: on his death, passed to a private collection.

Jules Strauss (born in Frankfurt in 1861) was a notable collector of Impressionist paintings. It is not known when or how he acquired this painting, but he certainly did not own it for long.

It is not known if Vanderbilt bought this portrait (whether or not it was a portrait of his daughter) at the 1902 Strauss sale. However, he owned it by 1905, when he lent it to the exhibition of Œuvres de James McNeill Whistler, Palais de l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1905 (cat. no. 45) as ‘Portrait of a Baby’.

Exhibitions

• 1905: Œuvres de James McNeill Whistler, Palais de l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1905 (cat. no. 45) as ‘Portrait of a Baby’.

It was lent to the exhibition by George Washington Vanderbilt (1862-1914).

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. 549), plate 364, as 'Portrait of a Baby'.

Authored by Whistler

• None.

Catalogues 1855-1905

EXHIBITION:

• Œuvres de James McNeill Whistler, Palais de l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1905 (cat. no. 45) as ‘Portrait of a Baby’.

SALE:

• Strauss Sale catalogue, Hotel Drouot, Paris, 3 May 1902 (lot 71) as ‘L’Enfant’, repr.

Journals 1855-1905

• None.

Monographs

• None.

Books on Whistler

• None.

Books, General

• None.

Catalogues 1906-Present

• None.

Journals 1906-Present

• None.

Websites

• None.

Unpublished

• Revillon, Joseph Whistler, Draft Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings of J. McN. Whistler, [ca 1945-1955], Glasgow University Library (cat. no. 310).

Other

• Sexton, Jean, 'Happy Birthday, Cornelia Vanderbilt', Open House: The Official Blog of Biltmore, 6 August 2014, Biltmore, at http://www.biltmore.com/Blog/article/happy-birthday-cornelia-vanderbilt (acc. 2014).