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

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Arrangement in Yellow and Grey: Effie Deans

Provenance

  • 1888: bought through H. Graves & Co., London, by Messrs Dowdeswell, London art dealers;
  • 1888: sold by them to Elbert Jan van Wisselingh (1848-1912), art dealer, The Hague;
  • 1889: sold by him to Reinhard Boelens, Baron van Lynden (1827-1896);
  • 1896: passed on van Lynden's death on 25 February 1896 to his widow, Maria Catharina Barones van Lynden (née Pallandt), Baroness van Lynden (1834-1905), The Hague;
  • 1900: given by her to the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

It is not known what happened to Arrangement in Yellow and Grey: Effie Deans [YMSM 183] at the time of Whistler's bankruptcy in 1879, but it was probably deposited with the London printsellers H. Graves & Co., with Arrangement in Black and Brown: The Fur Jacket [YMSM 181], as security for a loan. On 19 March 1888 Algernon Graves (1845-1922) wrote to Whistler that he had a possible buyer for these two paintings. 1 The potential buyers may have been Messrs Dowdeswell, who put Arrangement in Yellow and Grey: Effie Deans on exhibition in July 1888. 2 According to Walter Dowdeswell (1858-1929) they bought the painting from Graves on 26 October 1888 and sold it immediately to Van Wisselingh in Holland. 3

After being exhibited in Amsterdam, Arrangement in Yellow and Grey: Effie Deans was sold by Van Wisselingh to Reinhard, Baron van Lynden, who wrote to Whistler in April 1889:

'Some time ago I had the pleasure of buying a picture of yours from Messrs Dowdeswell called "Effie Deans" I liked it very much and no doubt my liking it so much helped me in the sale of it. My client, Baron van Lynden is delighted with his / purchase and the picture has grown on him as I knew it would, as one has only to live with a work of this kind to become attached to it.' 4

His widow gave the painting to the Rijksmuseum. It is not entirely clear if Whistler saw it there, though his sister-in-law Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958) certainly did, for she wrote:

'In the National Gallery at Amsterdam there is a full length of Mr Whistler's. ... It was beautifully hung & looked as if it had always belonged there.

The Director of the Museum came to meet us & was most enthusiastic and hoped that the Master himself would come to see his work.' 5

Exhibitions

  • 1886: International Exhibition, Edinburgh, 1886 (cat. no. 1412) as 'Effie Deans'.
  • 1889: Tentoonstelling van Kunstwerken van Levende Meesters, Amsterdam, 1889 (470) as 'Effie Deans'.

In Edinburgh the painting was 'skied' (hung high up), according to the art critic 'Megilp'. 6

It was also exhibited by Messrs Dowdeswell in London in July 1888, according to the New York Tribune. 7 In Amsterdam in the following year, Whistler's exhibits were awarded a gold medal, and the owner congratulated Whistler for the 'deserved distinction.' 8

Notes:

1: GUW #01824.

2: New York Tribune, 31 July 1888, press cutting in GUL Whistler PC 10, p. 18.

3: W. Dowdeswell to Pennell, 20 November 1907 and 20 February 1911, LC PC.

4: E. J. van Wisselingh to Whistler, 3 April 1889, GUW #07097.

5: R. B. Philip to Inez Addams, 4 August 1902, GUW #04840.

6: Megilp 1886 [more].

7: New York Tribune, 31 July 1888, press cutting in GUL Whistler PC 10, p. 18.

8: R. B. Lynden to Whistler, [9/16 October 1889], GUW #02656.

Last updated: 10th November 2020 by Margaret