The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Portrait of F. R. Leyland and one of his daughters dates from 1873/1878.

Portrait of F. R. Leyland and one of his daughters, Freer Gallery of Art

The drawing is fully catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 543).

Images

Subject

Sitter

Portrait of F. R. Leyland and one of his daughters, Freer Gallery of Art

Possibly Fanny Leyland (1857-1880) and Frederick Richards Leyland (1832-1892).

Technique

Technique

Portrait of F. R. Leyland and one of his daughters, Freer Gallery of Art

A very vigorous, scratchy sketch, possibly on shiny writing paper.

Conservation History

The paper has been browned at the edges by the mat. It has an unevenly cut edge at right and a very rough edge at the top. It has been folded vertically 64 mm from the left.

History

Provenance

• 1870s: probably acquired from Whistler by Thomas Way (1837-1915) or his son Thomas Robert Way (1861-1913);
• 1905: "Portraits of F. R. Leyland and one of his daughters" bought from T. R. Way in London by Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919), Detroit in June 1905;
• 1919: Bequeathed to the Freer Gallery of Art.

Exhibitions

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

Bibliography

Catalogues Raisonnés

• MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. no. 543) as 'Portrait of F. R. Leyland and one of his daughters'.

Catalogues 1906-Present

• Curry, David Park, James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art, New York and London, 1984, p. 248, pl. 224.

Websites

• Freer Gallery of Art website at https://asia.si.edu/object/F1905.155.