The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Old man probably dates from 1854; it was given to Thomas de Kay Winans (1820-1878).

Old man, Metropolitan Museum of Art

It is fully catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 171).

Images

Subject

Description

Old man, Metropolitan Museum of Art

A man with a spade-shaped beard and long droopy moustache, with a broad brimmed straw hat set at an acute angle, and wearing a full length robe with wide sleeves, is seen standing in three quarter view to left. The figure suggests an exotic or asian subject.

Technique

Technique

Old man, Metropolitan Museum of Art

See MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 171).

Conservation History

This was among numerous drawings given to the Winans family and stuck into an album.

History

Provenance

• 1853/1854: given to Thomas de Kay Winans (1820-1878) and family;
• 1878-1970: passed by family descent to his daughter Celeste Marguerite Winans (Mrs G. M. Hutton) (1855-1925), her daughter Lucette Marguerite Hutton, Mrs H. A. Prichard (1885-1957), and grand-daughters, Margaret Celeste Prichard, Mrs T. A. Buell (1908-1970), Helen Lucette Prichard, Mrs J. M. King (1913-2005), and Sybil Agnes Prichard, Mrs E. G. Walk (1915-2009);
• 1970: given by Margaret C. Buell, Helen L. King, and Sybil A. Walk to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Exhibitions

Not, as far as is known, 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. 171) as 'Old man'.

Journals 1906-Present

• Pressly, Nancy D., 'Whistler in America: An Album of Early Drawings', Metropolitan Museum Journal, New York, vol. 5, 1972, pp. 125-54.

Websites

• Metropolitan Museum of Art website as 'Elderly Bearded Man (from Sketchbook)'.