The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler
M.0268
r.: Group of figures around a brazier; v.: Figures in a carriage
Date
r.: Group of figures around a brazier; v.: Figures in a carriage dates from between August and October 1858.
r.: Group of figures around a brazier, Freer Gallery of Art
It is fully catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 268).
Images
r.: Group of figures around a brazier, Freer Gallery of Art
v.: Figures in a carriage, Freer Gallery of Art
Subject
Description
r.: Group of figures around a brazier, Freer Gallery of Art
v.: Figures in a carriage, Freer Gallery of Art
The woman at left appears to be doling out food from a pot, or perhaps roasting chestnuts on a brazier. The drawing on the verso may show a two-wheeled cart called a sulky, used for racing.
Site
Probably drawn on Whistler's Rhineland etching expedition, but possibly back in Paris.
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. 268) as 'r.: Group of figures around a brazier; v.: Figures in a carriage'.
Catalogues 1906-Present
- Curry, David Park, James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art, New York and London, 1984, . 226, pl. 181.
Websites
- Freer Gallery of Art website at https://asia.si.edu/object/F1898.177, as 'A Group of Figures around a Brazier'.