The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Theodore Roussel and Ethel Birnie Philip 'telling' cards dates from about 1888 and was given to Théodore Roussel (1847-1926). This drawing was followed by The Prediction m1192.

Theodore Roussel and Ethel Birnie Philip 'telling' cards, Private Collection

It is catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1191) as 'Whistler and his sister-in-law 'telling' cards'. This entry has been corrected.

Images

Subject

Sitter

Theodore Roussel and Ethel Birnie Philip 'telling' cards, Private Collection

Théodore Roussel (1847-1926) and Whistler's sister-in-law Ethel Birnie Philip, later Ethel Whibley (1861-1920). Although a note by Roussel suggested that this showed Whistler and his sister-in-law, it is in fact a portrait of Roussel, to whom Whistler gave the drawing.

Technique

Technique

Theodore Roussel and Ethel Birnie Philip 'telling' cards, Private Collection

See MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1191).

History

Provenance

• ca 1888: given by Whistler to Théodore Roussel (1847-1926);
• 1926: passed by family descent to his second wife's niece, Agnes Ethel Mackay (1889-1980);
• 1980: bought by the Fine Art Society, Glasgow, and sold to a private collector.

The provenance given in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1193) has been corrected.

Exhibitions

There is no record of an exhibition 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. 1191) as "Theodore Roussel and Ethel Birnie Philip 'telling' cards".