Technique

The drawing is faint, and has a fine, dotted, texture; a diamond grain is seen through the paper. It is comparable, in technique and in the high viewpoint, with Whistler's lithograph Kensington Gardens c140 of 1896.

Joseph Pennell (1860-1926) also drew a lithograph Embankment Gardens from Buckingham Street. 1

It has been suggested that the drawing, hitherto ascribed to Whistler, was actually by Joseph Pennell, being on a different transfer paper from that used by Whistler, and having a different 'handling of the crayon'; and furthermore, that the inscription by Pennell 'does not constitute an explicit attribution to Whistler'. 2

Such slight sketches are particularly difficult to assess, and these points are valid, but the drawing is still, in our opinion, probably by Whistler. In particular, Whistler's work includes a wide variety of line (including the broken outlines and soft focus shading seen here) and also shows the influence of fellow artists, including Pennell (just as Pennell's work shows Whistler's influence).

Conservation History

The sheet of transfer paper has a stain, possibly a glue stain, at upper left.