The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Two figures probably dates from the autumn of 1858 and was given to Deborah Delano Haden (1825-1908) or her husband Francis Seymour Haden, Sr (1818-1910). The name and address of Heinrich Axenfeld (1824-1892) on the verso suggests the sheet was used on Whistler's return to Paris from the Rhineland.

Two figures, Freer Gallery of Art, DC

It is fully catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 266).

Images

Subject

Sitter

Not identified.

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. 266) as 'Tow figures'.

Catalogues 1906-Present

• Curry, David Park, James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art, New York and London, 1984, p. 218, pl. 165.

Websites

• Freer Gallery of Art website at https://asia.si.edu/object/F1898.195, as 'Two figures'.