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

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Copy after Odier's 'Episode de la retraite de Moscou'

Whistler, Copy after Odier's 'Episode de la retraite de Moscou', Colby College Museum of Art
Whistler, Copy after Odier's 'Episode de la retraite de Moscou', Colby College Museum of Art

Whistler's Copy after Odier's 'Episode de la retraite de Moscou' probably dates from 1857. 1

On 17 June 1856, Whistler, sponsored by Marc-Charles-Gabriel Gleyre (1806-1874), obtained permission to enter the Musées Impériaux, Paris, 'pour les jours d'étude' (on study days). 2 There is, however, no record in the Archives du Louvre of Whistler having requested permission to copy any painting by Edouard-Alexandre Odier (1800-1887).

On 6 August 1900 Whistler told the Pennells that when he was first studying in Paris, he received a commission from 'Captain Williams' of Stonington, Connecticut,

'to copy as many pictures as I chose for twenty-five dollars a piece, and I copied a picture, I cannot remember whom it was by, of a snow scene, with a horse and a soldier standing by it and another in the snow at his feet.' 3

Two of Whistler's copies for Captain Williams are dated 1857 (Copy after Schnetz's 'Les Adieux du consul Boëtus à sa famille' [YMSM 013], and Copy after Ziegler's 'La Vision de St Luc' [YMSM 015]). The other copies were almost certainly painted in that year, or very early in 1858, and were back in Stonington by March 1858. 4

Notes:

1: YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 17).

2: Card No. 3338, Comte Alfred Émilien O'Hara van Nieuwerkerke (1811-1892) to Whistler, GUW #04523.

3: Pennell 1921C [more], p. 171.

4: A. M. Whistler to J. Whistler, 29 January 1857 and 25 March 1858, GUW #06480, and #06495.

Last updated: 18th April 2021 by Margaret