The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

'Pour boire' dates from 1854 or 1855. It was given to Thomas de Kay Winans (1820-1878).

'Pour boire', Metropolitan Museum of Art

It is fully catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 189).

Images

Subject

Description

'Pour boire', Metropolitan Museum of Art

The subject is a man begging money for a drink. His short hair stands on end. He wears a long jacket with huge cuffs decorated with large buttons, over skinny trousers, and carries a hat apparently decorated with a broken feather or ribbon.

Technique

Technique

'Pour boire', Metropolitan Museum of Art

See MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 189).

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. 189) as ''Pour boire''.

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.