The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Figures by a fountain dates from between August and October 1858.

Figures by a fountain, Freer Gallery of Art

It is fully catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 251).

Images

Subject

Site

Figures by a fountain, Freer Gallery of Art

Possibly drawn in Heidelberg, a town in Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. A similar subject is seen in Heidelberg m0252.

Technique

Technique

The sheet was probably taken from a sketchbook. Over fifty drawings, many in sketchbooks, most of which dated from 1857-1858, were apparently given to Whistler's half-sister Deborah and/or her husband, Francis Seymour Haden, and were later removed from the sketchbooks.

History

Provenance

• 1858: probably given to Deborah Delano Haden (1825-1908) or her husband Francis Seymour Haden, Sr (1818-1910);
• 1898: sold through Wunderlich, New York dealers, to Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919);
• 1919: bequeathed by C. L. Freer to the Freer Gallery of Art.

See further details in r.: Les Côtes à Dieppe; v.: Cliffs and building m0222.

Exhibitions

It was not, as far as is known, exhibited in Whistler's lifetime.

Due to the conditions of Freer's will, it cannot be lent to another venue.

Bibliography

Catalogues Raisonnés

• MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. no. 251) as 'Figures by a fountain'.

Catalogues 1906-Present

• Curry, David Park, James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art, New York and London, 1984, p. 216, pl. 160.

Websites

• Freer Gallery of Art website at https://asia.si.edu/object/F1898.197, as 'Figures by a fountain'.