The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler
M.0708
Chelsea Reach and the dragonfly
Date
Chelsea Reach and the dragonfly dates from about 1878.
Chelsea Reach and the dragonfly, Private Collection
It is fully catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 708).
Images
Chelsea Reach and the dragonfly, Private Collection
Subject
Site
Chelsea Reach and the dragonfly, Private Collection
Chelsea Reach on the River Thames, London, looking across the river to Battersea.
Technique
Composition
This is one of several designs for the cover of Whistler v. Ruskin: Art and Art Critics. 1 It was not used, a simple text and butterfly signature on brown paper being a cheaper option.
History
Provenance
- 1884: given by Whistler to Walter Richard Sickert (1860-1942);
- Date unknown: given by Sickert to George Sitwell Swinton (1859-1937) and passed by family descent to his grandson;
- 1985: bought in April by Richard Kingsett of Agnew's, London dealers, and sold to private collectors.
An accompanying letter headed '2, HYDE PARK STREET, W.', states that the drawing 'Chelsea reach & the dragon-fly. Note in opal (gouache) by James Abbot Whistler. Given to me about 1884 in what was then 13 Tite Street Chelsea (Sargent's present studio) / Walter Sickert'. Sickert's note was augmented in another hand, 'Authority for both subject and authenticity given in May 1908. E. S.' (Elsie, Mrs G. Swinton, a close friend of Sickert).
Exhibitions
It was not 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. 708) as 'Chelsea Reach and the dragonfly'.
Notes:
1: Whistler 1878 A [more].