Date
Amsterdam in Winter dates from November/December 1882. It is dated from Whistler's known trip to Holland, and the signature.

Amsterdam in Winter, Freer Gallery of Art
It is fully catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 877).
Images

Amsterdam in Winter, Freer Gallery of Art
Subject
Site

Amsterdam in Winter, Freer Gallery of Art
Amsterdam, capital of the Netherlands.
Technique
Technique
See technical details in Whistler in Watercolour, Freer|Sackler, Washington, 2019, website.
History
Provenance
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1884: possibly sold through Messrs Dowdeswell to Edward John Poole (b. ca 1848), London. 1
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1898: possibly acquired by William Stephen Marchant (1868-1925), London dealer.
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1900: bought from William Burrell (1861-1958), Glasgow, by Agnew's, London dealers, 7 August 1900 (#3141);
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1903: sold on 26 January to John James Cowan (1846-1936), Edinburgh;
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1904: bought from Cowan on 13 June through Marchant, London dealer, by Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919), Detroit;
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1919: bequeathed to the Freer Gallery of Art.
Further details are given in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 877).
Exhibitions
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1884: possibly 'Notes' - 'Harmonies' - 'Nocturnes', Messrs Dowdeswell, London, 1884 (cat. no. 49) as 'Nocturne, black and gold - Winter; Amsterdam'.
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1898: possibly Pictures, Drawings, Bronzes, Pottery, Antique Furniture, Decorative Metal Work, &c, Goupil Gallery, at Howard Gallery, Sheffield, 1898 (cat. no. 52) as 'Nocturne, Amsterdam'.
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1904: 78th Exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, 1904 (cat. no. 75) as 'Amsterdam in Winter'.
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1905: Œuvres de James McNeill Whistler, Palais de l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1905 (cat. no. 120) as 'Nocturne. Amsterdam in Winter'.
This was not, as suggested in the 1995 catalogue, exhibited in 1883; see Snow m0877a.
By the terms of Freer's will, this work can not 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. 877) as 'Amsterdam in Winter'.
Catalogues 1855-1905
- Possibly 'Notes' - 'Harmonies' - 'Nocturnes', Messrs Dowdeswell, London, 1884 (cat. no. 49) as 'Nocturne, black and gold - Winter; Amsterdam'.
- Possibly Pictures, Drawings, Bronzes, Pottery, Antique Furniture, Decorative Metal Work, &c, Goupil Gallery, at Howard Gallery, Sheffield, 1898 (cat. no. 52) as 'Nocturne, Amsterdam'.
- .78th Exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, 1904 (cat. no. 75) as 'Amsterdam in Winter'.
- Œuvres de James McNeill Whistler, Palais de l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1905 (cat. no. 120) as 'Nocturne. Amsterdam in Winter'.
Books on Whistler
- Cary, Elizabeth Luther, The Works of James McNeill Whistler: A Study, with a Tentative List of Artist’s Works, New York, 1907, p. 194 (cat. no. 239).
- Glazer, Lee, Emily Jacobson, Blythe McCarthy, and Katherine Roeder, Whistler in Watercolor: Lovely Little Games, New Haven and London, 2019.
- Heijbroek, J. F., and Margaret F. MacDonald, Whistler and Holland, Zwolle and Amsterdam, 1997, pp. 38, 53-54, repr. fig. 51.
- Menpes, Mortimer, Whistler as I Knew Him, London, 1904, repr. p. 82.
Catalogues 1906-Present
- Curry, David Park, James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art, New York and London, 1984, p. 191, pl. 117.
- Myers, Kenneth John, Mr. Whistler’s Gallery: Pictures at an 1884 Exhibition, Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 2003, p. 47 (cat. no. 22).
Websites
- Freer Gallery of Art website at https://asia.si.edu/object/F1904.81a-b, as 'Nocturne: Amsterdam in Winter'.
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Whistler in Watercolour, Freer|Sackler, Washington, 2019, website.