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

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M.0203
Portrait of John Ross Key

Artist: James McNeill Whistler
Date: 1854/1855
Collection: Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
Accession Number: F1908.200
Medium: charcoal and chalk
Support: buff wove paper
Size: 19 1/8-19 3/4 x 12 1/16-12 3/16" (485-502 x 306-310 mm)
Signature: none
Inscription: v.: 'Portrait of John Ross Key, grandson of Francis Scott Key, drawn by James McNeill Whistler at the Coast Survey Office, Washington, in 1854.' in an unknown hand

Portrait of John Ross Key

Provenance

  • 1854/1855: given by Whistler to John Ross Key (1837-1920) ;
  • 1908: bought in July by Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919) , Detroit;
  • 1919: bequeathed to the Freer Gallery of Art.

See further details in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 203).

Exhibitions

It was not exhibited in Whistler's lifetime.

Due to the conditions of Freer's will, it cannot be lent to another venue.

Last updated: 3rd March 2021 by Margaret