The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Head of Christine Spartali probably dated from late 1863, when, according to her sister, the model, Christine Spartali, Countess Edmond de Cahen (1846–1884) was too ill to pose for La Princesse du pays de la porcelaine y050, and Whistler visited their house and drew Christine's head. ¹

The drawing is catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 317).

Images

Subject

Sitter

Christina Spartali (later Countess Edouard Cahn d'Anvers), National Portrait Gallery, London

Christine Spartali, Countess Edmond de Cahen (1846–1884), the model for La Princesse du pays de la porcelaine y050.

Technique

Composition

La Princesse du pays de la porcelaine, Freer Gallery of Art

This was a study for the head of the 'Princesse' in La Princesse du pays de la porcelaine y050.

Technique

Unknown.

History

Provenance

Although Marie Spartali (Mrs W. J. Stillman) (1844-1927) told the Pennells that Whistler had made a drawing of her sister's head, there is no further record of it. ²

Exhibitions

There is no record of an exhibition.

Bibliography

Catalogues Raisonnés

• MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. no. 317) as 'Head of Christine Spartali'.
• Young, Andrew McLaren, Margaret F. MacDonald, Robin Spencer, and Hamish Miles, The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler, New Haven and London, 1980 (oil, cat. no. 50).

Books on Whistler

• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Life of James McNeill Whistler, 2 vols, London and Philadelphia, 1908, vol. 1, pp. 122-23.