The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler
M.1018
St Paul's
Date
St Paul's dates from about 1885 and was given to Mortimer Luddington Menpes (1860-1938).
St Paul's, Private Collection
It is catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1018).
Images
St Paul's, Private Collection
Subject
Site
St Paul's, Private Collection
St Paul's Cathedral, London, UK.
Technique
Composition
According to Mortimer Luddington Menpes (1860-1938) this was a 'Wash drawing of St Paul's / Study for an etched plate', but no such etched plate has survived. 1
Technique
St Paul's, Private Collection
It was probably drawn using a quill pen, and then developed with the feathered end of the quill, using mostly water. In some cases the wash may have been applied first, and pen line drawn through it, the result being that the ink spreads out on each side of the line. 2
History
Provenance
- Before 1903: owned by Mortimer Luddington Menpes (1860-1938);
- 1903: with Ernest Brown & Phillips, London.
- 1988: sold at auction, Christie's, London, 11 November 1988 (lot 301, repr.);
- 1988: bought by Ira Spanierman (n/a), New York art dealer.
- By 2015: bought by a private collector.
Exhibitions
- 1903: Mortimer Menpes Collection of Etchings, Drypoints and Lithographs, by J. McNeill Whistler, E. Brown & Phillips, Leicester Galleries, London, 1903 (cat. no. 209) as 'Wash drawing of St Paul's / Study for an etched plate'.
Bibliography
Catalogues Raisonnés
- MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. no. 1018) as 'St Paul's'.
Catalogues 1855-1905
- Mortimer Menpes Collection of Etchings, Drypoints and Lithographs, by J. McNeill Whistler, E. Brown & Phillips, Leicester Galleries, London, 1903 (cat. no. 209) as 'Wash drawing of St Paul's / Study for an etched plate'.
Books on Whistler
- Menpes, Mortimer, Whistler as I Knew Him, London, 1904, repr. f.p. xviii as 'St. Paul's'.
Catalogues 1906-Present
- The Poetic Vision: American Tonalism, Spanierman Gallery, New York, NY, 2006 (no catalogue number).
Notes:
1: Mortimer Menpes Collection of Etchings, Drypoints and Lithographs, by J. McNeill Whistler, E. Brown & Phillips, Leicester Galleries, London, 1903 (cat. no. 209).
2: See MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1018).