The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

A girl in a green toga dates from 1893/1895.

A girl in a green toga, The Hunterian

It was catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1373).

Images

Subject

Sitter

A girl in a green toga, The Hunterian

Unidentified.. The model looks like the young woman in A girl carrying a bowl on her head m1371 and Girl with arms crossed m1372

Technique

Technique

A girl in a green toga, The Hunterian

The drawing has a silvery quality, rippling lines of drapery contrasting with the soft blurr of shading. Whistler used three different techniques for the three areas of the drawing - face, robe and shadow. Both the point and side of the charcoal was used, drawn and rubbed to provide variety.

Conservation History

The paper is similar to that in A girl carrying a bowl on her head m1371; it is a little shiny, brown of a slightly grey tone, with tiny gold flecks of wood-stalk and small fibres, and a fine vertical grain that catches the charcoal lines effectively.

History

Provenance

• 1903: in Whistler's studio at his death in 1903 and bequeathed to his sister-in-law, Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958);
• 1935: given by Miss Birnie Philip to the University of Glasgow.

Exhibitions

As far as is known, it was not exhibited in Whistler's lifetime.

By the terms of Miss Birnie Philip's Gift, 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. 1373) as 'A girl in a green toga'.

Websites

• The Hunterian website at http://collections.gla.ac.uk.