The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Rosy silver – The Pink Porch was exhibited in 1886, although the butterfly could date from later, betwen 1888 and 1889.

Rosy silver – The Pink Porch, Colby College Museum of Art

It was catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1008) but had not then been located. The catalogue entry has been updated and illustrated.

Images

Subject

Site

Not identified. It is just possible that it was painted in Brittany, but it could as easily be an English scene.

Technique

Technique

Rosy silver – The Pink Porch, Colby College Museum of Art

It was painted with thin washes of watercolour thickened with body-colour on the walls, while some fine brush strokes define details of the figure and foliage. The garden chair to right of the figure is defined precisely with strokes of creamy-white paint.

Conservation History

It appears slightly faded, with some loss of detail. The colours at the edges are darker where they were protected by the mat or frame.

History

Provenance

• 1891: sold to Levi Ziegler Leiter (1834-1904), 22 August 1891, for 60 gns. ¹
• 1997: sold at auction, Phillips, New York, 28 January 1997 (lot 131);
• 1997/2013: Thomas Colville (n/a), Thomas Colville Fine Art, New York;
• 2013: given by Paula Crane Lunder (b. 1935) and Peter H. Lunder (b. 1933) to Colby College Museum of Art.

Exhibitions

• 1886: 'Notes' - 'Harmonies' - 'Nocturnes', Second Series, Messrs Dowdeswell, London, 1886 (cat. no.26) as 'Rosy silver – the Pink Porch'.

The Bat, on 4 May 1886, commented:

'The Pink porch is a lovely bit, full of life and colour ... the tone is so sweet, so unobtrusive, that the pinks and yellows, faint though they would seem in other people's pictures, are infinitely more effective.'

Bibliography

Catalogues Raisonnés

• MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. no. 1008) as 'Rosy silver – The Pink Porch'.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• 'Notes' - 'Harmonies' - 'Nocturnes', Second Series, Messrs Dowdeswell, London, 1886 (cat. no. 26) as 'Rosy silver – the Pink Porch'.

Newspapers 1855-1905

• The Bat, London, 4 May 1886, p. 123.

Websites

• Colby College Museum of Art, 2018, website at https://www.colby.edu.