The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Baby dates from 1852. It is known only from a photograph in the Pennell Collection, Library of Congress.

Baby, photograph, Library of Congress

It is catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 93); the catalogue entry has been amended.

Images

Subject

Sitter

Baby, photograph, Library of Congress

Unidentified. This is probably a carefully worked up copy of one of the engravings in the Museum collections at West Point.

Technique

Technique

Baby, photograph, Library of Congress

The technique, imitating engraving, involves multiple outlines, curved and zigzag lines, cross-hatched shading, and dotting combined with all these methods for the softer effects on the face.

History

Provenance

• 1852: given to Loomis Lyman Langdon (1830-1910), a fellow cadet at West Point;
• By 1884: given by Loomis Lyman Langdon (1830-1910) to the United States Military Academy, West Point; ¹
• Date unknown: missing, either lost or destroyed.

See MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 93)

Bibliography

Catalogues Raisonnés

• MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. no. 93) as 'Baby'.

Journals 1855-1905

• The Catalogue of the Museum, United States Military Academy, West Point, 1884, p. 132, no. 1086, as 'An Artist's "Prelude" '.

Books on Whistler

• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Life of James McNeill Whistler, 2 vols, London and Philadelphia, 1908, vol. 2, p. 307.