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

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M.1104
Colour scheme for a lavatory

Artist: James McNeill Whistler
Date: 1886/1887
Collection: Glasgow University Library
Accession Number: MS Whistler LB9, pp. 21/22
Medium: watercolour
Support: cream wove paper
Size: 5 15/16 x 4" (151 x 112-14 mm)
Signature: butterfly
Inscription: 'Lavatory ./ Back bedroom / walls. / Skirting board.', and, in unknown hand, '5' and '6'

Colour scheme for a lavatory

Composition

This was a design for wall decorations at the house of Ernest George Brown (1851-1915) . The accompanying letter reads:

[p. 1] 'Here is what I promised -

[p. 2] ... Here is list of colors -

[p. 3] Distemper - First one coat of light grey (made of simple white wash and a little Ivory black - not the vegetable black of the trade - with a very little yellow ochre) over ceiling and walls - strongly sized -

Walls { Now the apple green - Distemper - & { light Lemon chrome - ... Antwerp blue Ceiling {toned slightly with Yellow Ochre, & Raw Sienna

Skirting {Oil Lemon Chrome - Middle Chrome light. Yellow ochre & { All Woodwork { Raw Sienna.' 1

Technique

Colour scheme for a lavatory, Glasgow University Library
Colour scheme for a lavatory, Glasgow University Library

See MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1104).

Notes:

1: Whistler to E. G. Brown, [1886/1887], GUW #03634.

Last updated: 27th February 2021 by Margaret