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

Home > Catalogue > Browse > La Jeunesse <<   >>

La Jeunesse

Composition

La Jeunesse, The Hunterian
La Jeunesse, The Hunterian
Harmony in Blue and Gold: The Little Blue Girl, Freer Gallery of Art
Harmony in Blue and Gold: The Little Blue Girl, Freer Gallery of Art

The pose, showing a young woman disrobing, and the placing of the figure in relation to the sofa, suggests a relationship to the oil painting Harmony in Blue and Gold: The Little Blue Girl [YMSM 421], which was started at this time.

Technique

La Jeunesse, The Hunterian
La Jeunesse, The Hunterian

There are at least two butterflies, one rubbed out on the seat right, and one on the back of the sofa, possibly yet another on the seat left. The charcoal gave a wide range of line, from the hard line of the robe to the softest of shadows.

Conservation History

The paper has some fibres and small pieces of wood-stalk.

Last updated: 5th June 2021 by Margaret