The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler
M.0989
The walls of the Peacock Room
Date
The walls of the Peacock Room dates from about 1884, when it was drawn for Robert Goodloe Harper Pennington (1854 or 1855-d. 1920).
The walls of the Peacock Room, I. S. Gardner Museum
It is catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 989).
Images
The walls of the Peacock Room, I. S. Gardner Museum
N.E. corner of the Peacock Room, Freer Gallery of Art
Subject
Site
The walls of the Peacock Room, I. S. Gardner Museum
N.E. corner of the Peacock Room, Freer Gallery of Art
A memory drawing of details from Harmony in Blue and Gold: The Peacock Room y178, the house of Frederick Richards Leyland (1832-1892) in Princes Gate, London.
Technique
Composition
The walls of the Peacock Room, I. S. Gardner Museum
N.E. corner of the Peacock Room, Freer Gallery of Art
This is a memory drawing, not a preliminary study for Harmony in Blue and Gold: The Peacock Room y178.
Hadley considered the drawings were made in preparation for the decoration, but this is unlikely. 1
History
Provenance
- ca 1884: drawn for Robert Goodloe Harper Pennington (1854 or 1855-d. 1920);
- 1904: given by Pennington to Isabella Stewart Gardner (1840-1924), Boston;
- 1924: bequeathed to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston.
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. 989) as 'The walls of the Peacock Room'.
- Young, Andrew McLaren, Margaret F. MacDonald, Robin Spencer, and Hamish Miles, The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler, New Haven and London, 1980 (cat. no. 178, ref.).
Books on Whistler
- Merrill, Linda, The Peacock Room. A Cultural Biography, New Haven and London, 1998, p. 237, fig. 6.1.
- Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Whistler Journal, Philadelphia, 1921, repr. f.p. 105.
Books, General
- Carter, Morris, Isabella Stewart Gardner and Fenway Court, Boston and New York, 1925, pp. 103-05.
- Hadley, Rollin van N. (ed.), Drawings, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, Boston, 1968, pp. 37-41, no. 18.
- Smith, Corinna Lindon, Interesting People, Norman, Oklahoma, 1962, p. 156.
Websites
- Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum website.
Notes:
1: Hadley 1968 [more], pp. 37-41, no. 18.