Detail from The Canal, Amsterdam, 1889, James McNeill Whistler, The Hunterian, University of Glasgow

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M.1312
La Sieste

Artist: James McNeill Whistler
Date: 1893
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number: 1933.213
Medium: lithographic crayon
Support: fine-grained lithographic transfer paper laid down on cream wove paper
Size: 6 5/16 x 9 5/8" (sheet 160 x 245 mm, image 140 x 236 mm)
Signature: two butterflies
Inscription: stamp 'WSB' (Walter Stanton Brewster)
print

La Sieste

Titles

The title La Sieste, published by Drouot's auction house in 1903, means 'The nap' though obviously it could mean a siesta. The Art Institute of Chicago opted for a descriptive title, 'Reclining Draped Figure'. 1

Sitter

La Sieste, Art Institute of Chicago
La Sieste, Art Institute of Chicago

It is possible that the model was the first known owner, Carmen Rossi (b. ca 1878.

Notes:

1: Spink 1998 [more], vol. 1, 'Untransferred Lithographic Drawings', (cat. no. VII); Clarke, Jay A., and Sarah Kelly Oehler, eds., Whistler Paintings and Drawings at the Art Institute of Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, 2020, website (cat. no. 33).

Last updated: 11th December 2020 by Margaret