The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

'Ma Nièce' dates from shortly after the birth of Annie Harriet Haden (1848-1937) on 13 December 1848. ¹

'Ma Nièce', The Hunterian

At Christmas, Whistler's mother Anna Matilda Whistler (1804-1881) requested 'a sketch of Sisters baby sleeping, at the top of your next letter dear Uncle Jemie.' ²

Images

Subject

Sitter

'Ma Nièce', The Hunterian

Annie Harriet Haden (1848-1937), daughter of Whistler's half-sister, Deborah Delano Haden (1825-1908), and Francis Seymour Haden, Sr (1818-1910).

Technique

Technique

The head is outlined with broken lines, the main outlines being repeated several times, and reinforced with sharp accents on the baby's features and hand. Soft zigzag lines shade the planes of the head, reinforced with stronger, angular lines above and to right of the head.

'Ma Nièce', The Hunterian

The drawing was touched up by Francis Seymour Haden, Sr (1818-1910), according to Whistler, and as he told his mother: 'I began a sketch of her which Seymour finished and made really very like her.' ³

History

Provenance

• 1848/1849: given to Anna Matilda Whistler (1804-1881);
• In or before 1881: passed to her younger son, Whistler's brother William McNeill Whistler (1836-1900);
• 1900: bequeathed to his wife, Helen ('Nellie') Euphrosyne Whistler (1849-1917);
• 1908/1917: given to, or inherited by, Whistler's great-nephew, Joseph Whistler Revillon (1886-1955);
• 1955: bequeathed by J. W. Revillon to the University of Glasgow.

See further details in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 21).

Exhibitions

It was not exhibited in Whistler's lifetime.

Bibliography

Catalogues Raisonnés

• MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. no. 21) as 'Ma Nièce'.

Websites

• The Hunterian website at http://collections.gla.ac.uk/#/details/ecatalogue/40167.
• MUSEUMS.EU website at http://museums.eu.