The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

r.: A nude model adjusting her hair; v.: A woman in a toga dates from about 1893.

r.: A nude model adjusting her hair, The Hunterian

v.: A woman in a toga, The Hunterian

The verso may be by Beatrice Philip (Mrs E. W. Godwin, Mrs J. McN. Whistler) (1857-1896).

The drawings are fully catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1383).

Images

Subject

Sitter

Not identified.

Technique

Technique

r.: A nude model adjusting her hair, The Hunterian

The black outlines are rough, with many corrections. The figure was drawn in shades of yellow ochre and off-white touched with pink. The green ribbon with which she is binding her hair harmonises with the green rubbed in to the sofa.

Underneath is another drawing, a girl seen from the back, in profile left, with left arm outstretched, who wore a pink robe and red cap. There was a chequered pink and brown pattern behind her, like that seen in Vénus Astarté m1232.

v.: A woman in a toga, The Hunterian

The drawing on the verso may be by Beatrice Philip (Mrs E. W. Godwin, Mrs J. McN. Whistler) (1857-1896). It was drawn onto the white card on which the brown paper was laid down.

Conservation History

The rubbing out has made a hole in the paper, just at her armpit, and gives a scrubbed appearance to the whole body. The paper has fine fibres and specks of wood-stalk. It may have been a commercially prepared board.

History

Provenance

• 1903: in Whistler's studio at his death and bequeathed to his sister-in-law and executrix, Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958);
• 1958: bequeathed 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. 1383) as 'r.: A nude model adjusting her hair; v.: A woman in a toga'.

Websites

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