Composition

Self-Portrait, Fogg Art Museum

The Pennells described Whistler at work on a self-portrait, 'in the white jacket, which was changed into a black coat after Mrs. Whistler's death' in 1896. 1 It could be this portrait but if so there is no trace of the white jacket.

H. S. Mendelssohn, J. McN. Whistler, 1884/1885, albumen print, GUL Whistler PH1/108

The portrait closely resembles a studio photograph of the artist, taken by H. S. Mendelssohn, London, about 1890.

Technique

Self-Portrait, Fogg Art Museum

It is on a fine irregular weave canvas, and painted with a smooth overall finish fairly typical of Whistler's work in the mid-1890s. The soft, blurred surfaces were probably rubbed down by the artist to create the effect of a figure barely emerging from shadows. The portrait is in vertical format.

Conservation History

Unknown.

Frame

Frame: 40 x 34.3 x 2.5 cm (15 3/4 x 13 1/2 x 1").