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

Home > Catalogue > Browse > Maud <<   >>

Maud

A portrait of Maud probably dates from 1886. 1

The artist Walter Richard Sickert (1860-1942), who was working closely with Whistler in the 1880s, particularly between 1884 and 1887, wrote that he had seen Whistler at work on several portraits of 'Maud'. 2

Whistler and Portrait of Maud Franklin, photograph, GUL Whistler PH1/120
Whistler and Portrait of Maud Franklin, photograph, GUL Whistler PH1/120
J. B. Partridge, Caricature of Whistler as Harmony in Black, No. 10, from unidentified press cutting, GUL PC 3, p. 116
J. B. Partridge, Caricature of Whistler as Harmony in Black, No. 10, from unidentified press cutting, GUL PC 3, p. 116

The portraits of Maud Franklin (1857-1939) seen by Sickert were probably Portrait of Maud Franklin [YMSM 353], Harmony in Black, No. 10 [YMSM 357], and the painting under discussion, Maud [YMSM 358]. None of these have been located.

Around 1886 Whistler recorded two portraits of Maud as potentially available for exhibition: 'Maud - fur jacket' and 'Maud - green scarf.' 3 The first of these was Arrangement in Black and Brown: The Fur Jacket [YMSM 181], and the other was presumably likewise a life-size full-length portrait and possibly the painting under discussion here, Maud [YMSM 358].

Maud and Whistler parted in 1888 when he married Beatrice Philip (Mrs E. W. Godwin, Mrs J. McN. Whistler) (1857-1896), so after that date Maud could not have posed to Whistler.

Notes:

1: YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 358).

2: Sickert, Walter R., 'Where Paul and I differ', Art News, No. 14, 10 February 1910, p. 113.

3: Whistler, list, [1886/1887], formerly dated [4/11 January 1892], GUW #06795. A reference to 'Mrs Godwin' in the list confirms a date before his marriage in 1888. The list was not, as originally thought, intended for D. C. Thomson.

Last updated: 3rd January 2021 by Margaret