Titles

Whistler's original title is not known. Only one title is known, which may derive from Whistler's sister-in-law, Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958):

• 'La Sylphide' (1915, Colnaghi). 1
• 'La Sylphide' (1980, YMSM). 2

'Sylphide' is french for sylph, an imaginary or mythical spirit of the air. However, the term is also used to describe a slender woman or girl, and from that point of view, is appropriate.

Description

La Sylphide, The Hunterian

A figure study in vertical format. The standing figure of a very young, slim woman, her nudity accentuated by the completely transparent robe that covers her body, gathered in at her neck. Over this she wears a white robe, which is held out at both sides, revealing her body. Her left arm is held slightly out to the side, and she holds a half-open pale pink fan. She also wears a plum-coloured cap. The floor is dark, the wall behind her, a yellowish brown, deeply shadowed at left. Behind her, at the far left, is a white chair.

Site

The canvas may have been acquired and painted in Paris. The white chair in the background was originally in Whistler's Paris studio in the Rue Notre Dame des Champs, and is now in the Birnie Philip Collection in the Hunterian.

Sitter

The model has not been identified.