Technique

The Sea, Pourville, No. 1, The Hyde Collection

Green and Silver: The Great Sea, The Hunterian

This is typical of Whistler's panels of Pourville: for instance, Green and Silver: The Great Sea [YMSM 518] is similar in technique and composition.

The panel, chamfered at the ends, and cradled, is primed in grey. The sky is painted with short soft brush strokes of grey and pale turquoise-blue paint, and the turgid greenish sea is painted more vigorously, with a wavy horizon. The paint is of a thick, creamy consistency on the sea, the brush-marks having a clear raised outline. The grey beach is treated more broadly, with a square brush 4 mm (1/8") wide, with thinner, dryer, paint. The dark tones are emphasized by a neat black butterfly.

Conservation History

The Sea, Pourville, No. 1, photograph 1919

The Sea, Pourville, No. 1, photograph 1980

The Sea, Pourville, No. 1, The Hyde Collection

It has suffered some abrasion and paint loss at the edges, under the frame.

Frame

The frame, not an original Whistler frame, bears the label of E. & A. Milch, New York. It measures 29.2 x 36.8 x 3.5 cm (11 1/2 x 14 1/2 x 1 3/8").