The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler
M.1354
r.: Bats; v.: Bat, cupids, and ships at sea
Date
r.: Bats; v.: Bat, cupids, and ships at sea date from 1892/1893. 1
r.: Bats, Glasgow University Library
v.: Bat, cupids, and ships at sea, Glasgow University Library
The sheet was catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1354).
Images
r.: Bats, Glasgow University Library
v.: Bat, cupids, and ships at sea, Glasgow University Library
Blue and Silver: Trouville, Freer Gallery of Art
Subject
Description
r.: Bats, Glasgow University Library
v.: Bat, cupids, and ships at sea, Glasgow University Library
Blue and Silver: Trouville, Freer Gallery of Art
The bats and cupids are designs for possible publication; the seascape looks rather like Blue and Silver: Trouville y066.
Technique
Composition
r.: Bats, Glasgow University Library
The bats were designed as illustrations for the second edition of a book: Montesquiou 1893 A [more]; they were placed in a copy of the 1893 edition.
v.: Bat, cupids, and ships at sea, Glasgow University Library
The cupids may have been for the proposed publication of Récréations Postales by Stéphane Mallarmé (1842-1898) (see Cupid letting a bird out of a cage m1341.
Technique
v.: Bat, cupids, and ships at sea, Glasgow University Library
Some of the drawings, particularly the cupids, are probably the work of Beatrice Philip (Mrs E. W. Godwin, Mrs J. McN. Whistler) (1857-1896) rather than James McNeill Whistler. It is possible the preliminary ideas were a collaboration between Beatrice and James Whistler.
Conservation History
The envelope is torn and battered.
History
Provenance
- 1903: in Whistler's studio at his death in 1903 and bequeathed to his sister-in-law, Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958);
- 1955: given by Miss Birnie Philip to the University of Glasgow.
Bibliography
Catalogues Raisonnés
- MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. no. 1354) as 'r.: Bats; v.: Bat, cupids, and ships at sea.
Websites
- The Correspondence of James McNeill Whistler, 1855-1903, edited by Margaret F. MacDonald, Patricia de Montfort and Nigel Thorp; including The Correspondence of Anna McNeill Whistler, 1855-1880, edited by Georgia Toutziari. Online edition, University of Glasgow, 2003-2004, GUW #13619.
- Special Collections, University of Glasgow, website at http://special.lib.gla.ac.uk.
Notes:
1: See letter from Beatrice Whistler to R. de Montesquiou, [September 1892/1893], GUW #13619.