Technique

The Sea, Brittany, The Hunterian

It is on a 2 mm thick softwood panel – probably pine – made from a single piece of timber, with a 2 mm shallow bevel on all sides on the verso. It was primed unevenly (the surface is slightly lumpy) with pale grey priming, which runs over the edges, but was, for once, well covered by the paint.

Whistler used a fairly small brush, less than 2 mm wide, but on such a small panel the brushwork seems surprisingly broad. The blue sea was painted thinly, wet-in-wet. The sky, warm grey clouds, with touches of pale blue, turquoise and greenish-yellow, are painted with soft brush-strokes. The sea may be cobalt blue and the sky is a different blue, likely Prussian blue. 1

Conservation History

The short edges were damaged while the paint was wet, by sliding the panel into the box, and in addition all the edges of the painting were damaged by the frame.

Lead soap formation in the paint has produced tiny pimples on the surface. The varnish is very yellow varnish, and more yellow under the frame. Otherwise the panel is in good condition. 2

Frame

The Sea, Brittany, The Hunterian

The Sea, Brittany, frame detail

Grau Whistler, signed 'F H Grau - London', 1892, 33.0 x 38.9 x 5.5 cm. 3 It was made by Whistler's favourite frame-maker, Frederick Henry Grau (1859-1892). Dating from about 1892, it suggests that the picture was intended for exhibition but, if so, no such exhibition has been identified.