Artist: James McNeill Whistler Date: 1858 Collection: Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, DC Accession Number: F1898.150 Medium: r: pencil and saguine chalk; v: pencil Support: beige wove paper Size: 8 1/2" x 5 7/8" (216 x 150 mm) Signature: none Inscription: r.: 'SH', possibly by F. S. Haden; v.: 'Fumette / Red chalk / drawing' in an unknown hand
The clowns are based on a lithograph by
Paul Gavarni (1804-1866), "Air: Larifla! … Nos Femm' sont cou-cou" from Impressions de Ménage, Paris, 2nd series, no. 24, 1847.