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

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Portrait of Walter Sickert

Portrait of Walter Sickert dates from between 1885 and 1887.

Thomas Robert Way (1861-1913) recorded seeing a full-length portrait of Sickert in Whistler's studio in Fulham. 1 Whistler took the lease of a studio at 454a Fulham Studios from the end of December 1884. He gave up the Fulham Road studio in the summer of 1888.

In June 1886 the art critic Malcolm Charles Salaman (1855-1940) saw, in Whistler's studio, 'A full length portrait of Mr. Walter Sickert.' 2

The date of the full-length portrait is not clear from the correspondence between artist and sitter. Sickert wrote to Whistler, possibly in December 1885 or 1886, that he had paid for his portrait, but, later, possibly in October 1887, he mentioned that £52.10.0 was outstanding 'to complete the 200 guineas.' 3 Unfortunately, it is not known if one or other or both of these payments were for the full-length portrait or for the two head-and-shoulder portraits of Sickert painted about the same time (see Sketch Portrait of Walter Sickert [YMSM 350] and Portrait Sketch of Walter Sickert [YMSM 351]).

Notes:

1: Way 1912 [more], p. 79.

2: Salaman 1886 B [more].

3: [December 1885/1886], GUW #05424; [October 1887], GUW #05434.

Last updated: 1st April 2019 by Margaret