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

 

Subject Unknown

Titles

It is not absolutely certain that the documents refer to the same picture, but possible references are as follows:

  • 'toile de vingt' (1862, Whistler). 1
  • 'une tranchée de chemin de fer' (1862, Whistler). 2
  • 'Subject Unknown' (1980, YMSM). 3

Description

If the letters cited under DATE all refer to the same canvas, then it showed 'une tranchée de chemin de fer' (a railway cutting). 4


                    White Note, Colby College Museum of Art
White Note, Colby College Museum of Art

There is a railway cutting in the middle distance in A White Note [YMSM 044], but it could hardly be considered the principal subject of the painting.

Site

This was painted in Guéthary, Basses-Pyrénées, and may have shown a landscape there, but it could possibly have included a figure or figures.

Notes:

1: Whistler to G. A. Lucas, 18 October 1862, GUW #09187.

2: Whistler to Fantin-Latour, [24/31 October 1862] or earlier in the month, GUW #08029.

3: YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 42).

4: Whistler to Fantin-Latour, [24/31 October 1862], op. cit., GUW #08029.

Last updated: 26th November 2019 by Margaret