Composition

Study of a Female Figure, photograph, Frick Collection

There are extensive signs of alterations. There may have been a dado or step behind her legs. The woman may have had a wider skirt, or robe or scarf hanging down to left of her lower leg. The arms have been tried out in various positions. There may have been blossoms at right.

The composition is comparable to the painting Wardrobe by Albert Joseph Moore (1841-1893) (Johannesburg Art Gallery) which may be of about the same date, 1867. 1

Technique

Study of a Female Figure, photograph, Frick Collection

It is now known only from a photograph, but it shows an interesting technique, a combination of brush and palette knife, with the leaded panes of the window scratched out while the paint was still wet. 2 Whistler rarely used a palette knife conspicuously after the 1860s.

The canvas is an unusual size, being narrow in proportion to its height, which suggests it might have been cut down. The canvas appears to have been of a coarse weave. The painting shows numerous signs of alterations, broad brushwork, and in the chequered are at the top, the pattern has been incised with a knife or the wooden end of a brush or stick. The paint appears to be thin, the consistency of thick cream, and applied on the dress in long full brushstrokes, with blobs of paint for blossoms on the right.

Conservation History

Unknown.

Frame

Unknown.