Technique

Portrait of a child, Colby College Museum of Art

The child's coat and scarf are freely painted in shades of beige and brown on a fine weave canvas. The eyes and hair are a cool, dark brown, setting off pink cheeks. The hat is a warmer, slightly orangey, brown, with a yellow/beige bow or ribbon. The paint throughout is fairly thin. The pale beige and grey background was painted with broad brushstrokes over a darker brown underpaint, and it surrounds the head and hat quite imprecisely. Much smaller strokes with a fine pointed soft brush were used to define the child's features. Selective rubbing was also used on the face, softening and blending colours. Expressive curving brushstrokes then added layers of colour, adding solidity to the face and differentiating it from the surrounding clothes.

It is possible that the bow was intended to represent Whistler's butterfly (as in Portrait of Miss Lilian Woakes [YMSM 393]).

Sotheby's described the portrait:

'The portrait is at once direct and intense, magnified by his depiction of the young girl’s piercing eyes, and her strongly silhouetted figure placed within an almost intimate, cropped composition – a motif he used repeatedly throughout his portraiture. His approach is thoroughly modern with rapid, gestural brushwork, a soft tonal palette, creating a beautiful union of form and color emphasizing the immediacy of the image and the youthfulness of his sitter.' 1

Conservation History

Unknown.