The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

r.: Maud Franklin; v.: Study of Maud Franklin date from about 1878. They are dated from the technique, subject and signature.

r.: Maud Franklin, The Hunterian

The drawings are catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 693).

Images

Subject

Sitter

r.: Maud Franklin, The Hunterian

Maud Franklin (1857-1939). On 12 February 1880 Thomas Way (1837-1915) described it as one of 'The two framed studies of Miss F. in the old chair'. ¹

The suggestion that it showed Sara Bernhardt (1844-1923) arose at Whistler's bankruptcy sale in 1880. ² Oscar Wilde bought it at that time and, according to the Pennells, he asked Bernhardt 'to sign it, which she did, writing also that it was very like her.' ³

At the time of the Wilde sale in 1895, D. C. Thomson described it as 'your Drawing of Sara Bernhard' and 'the little drawing with a pen & ink remark on the second glass' but Beatrice Philip (Mrs E. W. Godwin, Mrs J. McN. Whistler) (1857-1896) assured him 'it is not Sarah Bernhardt at all.' ⁴ Whistler explained that it had been thought to represent Sara Bernhardt 'and she wrote on the glass that she considered it very like!!' ⁵

Technique

Composition

r.: Maud Franklin, The Hunterian

v.: Study of Maud Franklin, The Hunterian

Maud Franklin appears in similar poses in two lithographs, Study c004Study: Maud Seated c005, dating from 1878.

The figure on the verso is the opposite way up to that on the recto, and a large pinhole is visible above it.

Technique

Short diagonal lines build up the shape of the figure. The highlights are rather bright and out of keeping. The chalk lines were softened by the disturbed fibres of the paper, which has small pieces of wood-stalk in it, and has a vertical grain.

History

Provenance

• 1880: sold at Whistler's bankruptcy sale, Sotheby's, London, 12-13 February 1880 (lot 82) described 'perhaps erroneously' as 'Sarah Bernhardt, seated, holding a book', and bought by Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) for 5 gns;
• 1895: probably one of two 'crayon full length figures' sold with Sketch of a Lady m1430 at the Wilde sale, by Bullock, London, 24 April 1895 (lot 123) and bought by David Croal Thomson (1855-1930), London dealer, for Whistler;
• 1895: on 21 September Whistler offered it to The Fine Art Society for 25-30 gns but they asked him to reduce the price, and it remained unsold;
• 1903: in Whistler's studio at his death and bequeathed to his sister-in-law and executrix, Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958);
• 1935: given by Miss Birnie Philip to the University of Glasgow.

Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), who bought this drawing in 1880, asked Sara Bernhardt (1844-1923) to sign it, which she did, on the glass. Wilde wrote from Reading Jail to Alfred Douglas in 1897, regretting that he had been forced to sell this drawing. ⁶ Whistler did not bid for the other drawings attributed to him in Wilde's 1895 sale (lots 1429-30 ), nor in the second 'crayon' full length figure, which has not been identified nor catalogued separately.

Whistler bought the one drawing through Thomson, describing it as 'a little brown paper drawing that curiously enough I believe he bought at the sale of the White House ... one of the scrapings of the studio as usual - but I daresay pretty - I think Mrs Whistler would like to have it.' ⁷ Thomson therefore bought it on Whistler's behalf for 15 gns, and Beatrice Philip (Mrs E. W. Godwin, Mrs J. McN. Whistler) (1857-1896) wrote thanking him. ⁸ But a few months later, Mrs Whistler was seriously ill and they were short of money, so the artist offered r.: Maud Franklin; v.: Study of Maud Franklin m0693 to The Fine Art Society for 25-30 gns. Ernest George Brown (1851-1915) of the F.A.S. agreed to try and sell it but asked Whistler to reduce the price from the 35 gns asked. ⁹ In the end, it did not sell, and Whistler retained the drawing.

Further details are given in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 693).

Exhibitions

• 1879: possibly III Summer Exhibition, Grosvenor Gallery, London, 1879 (cat. no. 273 or 274) 'Study in Chalk'.

By the terms of Miss Birnie Philip's gift, this 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. 693) as 'r.: Maud Franklin; v.: Study of Maud Franklin'.

Catalogues 1855-1905

EXHIBITION:

• Possibly III Summer Exhibition, Grosvenor Gallery, London, 1879 (cat. no. 273 or 274) 'Study in Chalk'.

SALE:

• Whistler's bankruptcy sale, Sotheby, London, l2-13 February 1880 (lot 82) as 'Sarah Bernhardt, seated, holding a book'.
• Wilde sale, Bullock, London, 24 April 1895 (lot 123).

Journals 1855-1905

• Anon., 'Art Sales', Academy, vol. 17, 21 February 1880, pp. 148-49.

Books on Whistler

• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Life of James McNeill Whistler, 2 vols, London and Philadelphia, 1908, vol. 1, p. 260.

Catalogues 1906-Present

• James McNeill Whistler, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, 1935 (cat. no. 121) as 'Sketch Portrait'.

Websites

• The Hunterian website at http://collections.gla.ac.uk.