The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler
M.0281
Chez George Sauer au Lion Rouge
Date
Chez George Sauer au Lion Rouge dates from 1858.
Chez George Sauer au Lion Rouge, Freer Gallery of Art
The drawing is fully catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 281).
Images
Chez George Sauer au Lion Rouge, Freer Gallery of Art
Subject
Site
'Lion Rouge' or 'Au Lion Rouge' (Red Lion) was a popular name for a restaurant, public house or hotel. It may have been translated from German (der Roter Löwe) to French, since most inscriptions on Whistler's Rhineland sketches are in French. For instance there is a handsome timbered Roter Löwe in Heiligkreuzsteinach, Baden-Wurttemberg, just north-east of Heidelberg, which is the area in which Whistler was travelling.
Sitter
Chez George Sauer au Lion Rouge, Freer Gallery of Art
George Sauer may have been a publican, the proprietor of the 'Lion Rouge'. The drawing may have been done in settlement of Whistler's account.
Technique
Technique
Chez George Sauer au Lion Rouge, Freer Gallery of Art
See MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 281).
Conservation History
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. 281) as 'Chez George Sauer au Lion Rouge'.
Catalogues 1906-Present
- Curry, David Park, James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art, New York and London, 1984, p. 219, pl. 166.
Websites
- Freer Gallery of Art website at https://asia.si.edu/object/F1898.175, as 'Chez George Sauer a Lion Rouge'.