The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler
M.1290
Mother and Child - The Pearl
Date
Mother and Child – The Pearl dates from 1890/1892.
Mother and Child – The Pearl, Freer Gallery of Art
It is catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1290).
Images
Mother and Child – The Pearl, Freer Gallery of Art
Subject
Sitter
Mother and Child – The Pearl, Freer Gallery of Art
Possibly Rose Amy Pettigrew (1872-1958) and her niece.
Technique
Composition
Mother and Child – The Pearl, Freer Gallery of Art
The composition resembles those of several lithographs of 1890, particularly Mother and Child, No. 3 c052.
David P. Curry (1984) compared it with Tintoretto's The Birth of the Milky Way. Whistler is known to have admired Tintoretto greatly, knew this specific painting, and indeed owned photographs of it. 1
Technique
There are faint signs of another drawing, a figure, underneath, sideways on, with her head above the 'Pearl's' right foot. The vertical lines above the figure are in fact the floor, dado and matting of this earlier drawing. There was a pot, perhaps with flowers, on the left, and a butterfly on the right. The butterfly is similar to the later drawing, so presumably the under-drawing was rubbed out and the paper re-used almost immediately.
The Freer Gallery of Art website confirms: 'An infrared photo reveals an earlier black chalk drawing of a standing figure with a pot of flowers' but adds, mistakenly, 'probably related to the Six Projects, a series of oil sketches from ca. 1868.' 2
Frame
It was framed by Frederick Henry Grau (1859-1892).
History
Provenance
- 1903: possibly with William Stephen Marchant (1868-1925), London art dealer;
- 1904: bought through Marchant by Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919), January 1904;
- 1919: bequeathed to the Freer Gallery of Art.
Further details are given in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1290).
Exhibitions
- 1903: possibly Watercolours, Pastels, Drawings in Black and White, Sculptures and Bronzes By British and Foreign Artists Including A Selection of Works by H. B. Brabazon, and A Group of Works by the late James McNeill Whistler, W. Marchant & Co., Goupil Gallery, London, 1903 (cat. no. 196) as 'Mother and child'.
- 1904: Oil Paintings, Water Colors, Pastels and Drawings: Memorial Exhibition of the Works of Mr. J. McNeill Whistler, Copley Society, Boston, 1904 (cat. no. 126) as 'Mother and Child – The Pearl'.
By the terms of Freer's will, this work cannot 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. 1290) as 'Mother and Child – The Pearl'.
Catalogues 1855-1905
- Possibly Watercolours, Pastels, Drawings in Black and White, Sculptures and Bronzes By British and Foreign Artists Including A Selection of Works by H. B. Brabazon, and A Group of Works by the late James McNeill Whistler, W. Marchant & Co., Goupil Gallery, London, 1903 (cat. no. 196) as 'Mother and child'.
- Oil Paintings, Water Colors, Pastels and Drawings: Memorial Exhibition of the Works of Mr. J. McNeill Whistler, Copley Society, Boston, 1904 (cat. no. 126) as 'Mother and Child – The Pearl'.
Catalogues 1906-Present
- Curry, David Park, James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art, New York and London, 1984, pp. 49, 247, 273, pl. 273.
Websites
- Freer Gallery of Art website at https://asia.si.edu/object/F1904.1a-c, as 'Mother and Child – The Pearl'.
Notes:
1: GUL Whistler PH3/36-37. Curry 1984 [more], pp. 49, 273, 304.
2: Website at https://asia.si.edu/object/F1904.1a-c.