The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Portrait of Miss Leyland (1) probably dates from about 1872, though it could have been worked on later. ¹ It is dated from Whistler's known association with the sitter's parents, Frederick Richards Leyland (1832-1892) and Frances Leyland (1834-1910). According to the Pennells, Leyland commissioned portraits of all their four children, including Fanny Leyland (1857-1880), who, being the oldest, would have been addressed as 'Miss Leyland'. ²

On 3 June 1872, Whistler's mother, Anna Matilda Whistler (1804-1881), wrote to her sister:

'This early morning was bright & summer like & to my surprise when Jemie came in from his boating on the river to breakfast Fannie Leyland came with him, in her riding habit, whip in hand, her groom & horse at our gate, she is a lively girl of 14 & had after their earlier breakfast come by her Mamas persuasion this short ride before her beginning study, she had been in the boat on the river with Jemie … Jemie is to dine at the Leylands, but I fear will be late, for he has taken up his brush (in his best coat &c! & to paint is more beguiling than any thing else with him. ... Jemie seldom goes anywhere but as the escort of the Leylands, as Mr L has to be in Liverpool much, he is like a brother in the family circle.' ³

Whistler was painting portraits of the younger sisters, Elinor Leyland (1861-1952) and Florence Leyland (1859-1921), at Speke Hall in May 1875, and he planned to paint portraits – but he does not specify whose – later in September/October. ⁴

Images

Subject

Titles

One title has been suggested:

• 'Portrait of Miss Leyland (1)' (1980, YMSM). ⁵

The numbering is required to distinguish this painting, 'Portrait of Miss Leyland (1)', from Portrait of Miss Leyland (2) y110.

Description

Way & Dennis wrote, 'At least three studies of Mr. Leyland's daughters were painted. One represents a young lady in a riding habit and silk hat standing against a dark panelled wall, on warm-coloured matting.' ⁶

Study for 'Portrait of Miss Leyland', British Museum

This drawing, Study for 'Portrait of Miss Leyland' m0502, corresponds to Way and Dennis's description, and probably shows the proposed composition. Miss Leyland holds her riding crop nearly horizontally in front of her in her right hand, and with the same hand holds up the train of her dress. Although it is not signed, a rectangular field indicates the proposed position of the butterfly to left of the figure, on the wall.

Sitter

Fanny Leyland (1857-1880) was the eldest of the daughters of Frederick Richards Leyland (1832-1892). She was therefore referred to as 'Miss Leyland'. Her sisters, Frances Leyland (1834-1910), Florence Leyland (1859-1921), and Elinor Leyland (1861-1952), also posed to Whistler. Given their respective ages, the oil portrait under discussion here was most likely a portrait of Fanny Leyland. She appears seated in Fanny Leyland [135], which was printed in 1874.

Study for 'Portrait of Miss Leyland', British Museum

The pen drawing of Miss Leyland (which is now in the British Museum) was wrongly titled 'Mrs. A. J. Cassatt' by the Pennells. ⁷ The Pennells mistakenly took it to represent Maria Lois Cassatt (1847-1920), and to be a study for Arrangement in Black, No. 8: Portrait of Mrs Cassatt y250.

Technique

Composition

Study for 'Portrait of Miss Leyland', British Museum

Although Whistler sketched the figure wearing riding dress, it is not known if the painting got much beyond the planning stage.

Technique

Unknown. T. R. Way described it as painted 'in a very high key'. ⁸

Conservation History

According to T. R. Way, it was 'more or less destroyed' by Whistler in 1879. ⁹ If it was among canvases returned by the Ways in 1897, Whistler probably completed the destruction at that time.

Frame

Unknown.

History

Provenance

• 1870s: commissioned by Frederick Richards Leyland (1832-1892);
• 1879: bought by Thomas Way (1837-1915), London, at the time of Whistler's bankruptcy;
• 1897: probably returned to Whistler.

The Pennells reported Thomas Robert Way (1861-1913) as saying that an oil sketch on canvas was one of 'three Miss Leylands' among the 'six-foot full-length portraits' acquired by his father, the London printer Thomas Way, at the time of Whistler's bankruptcy in 1879 and returned to him much later. ¹⁰ According to T. R. Way, Portrait of Miss Leyland (1) y109 was 'more or less destroyed' by Whistler, and was one of two portraits of Leyland's daughters painted 'in a very high key', which were bought, after Leyland refused to take them, by a picture dealer on behalf of Thomas Way Sr. ¹¹ T. R. Way hung them in his rooms until Whistler asked him to take them down. Portrait of Miss Leyland (1) y109 was presumably one of the portraits that Thomas Way offered to return to Whistler, and may have been returned at the time of his final settlement with Whistler in 1897, which included '10 large canvas portraits, 10 small canvases & 7 blank canvases.' ¹²

Exhibitions

It was not exhibited in Whistler's lifetime.

Bibliography

Catalogues Raisonnés

• Young, Andrew McLaren, Margaret F. MacDonald, Robin Spencer, and Hamish Miles, The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler, New Haven and London, 1980 (cat. no. 109) as 'Portrait of Miss Leyland (1)'.
• MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. nos. 501-02).

Authored by Whistler

• None.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• None.

Journals 1855-1905

• None.

Monographs

• None.

Books on Whistler

• Duret, Théodore, Histoire de J. McN. Whistler et de son oeuvre, Paris, 1904, drawing repr. p. 135.
• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Life of James McNeill Whistler, 2 vols, London and Philadelphia, 1908, vol. 1, p. 175.
• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Whistler Journal, Philadelphia, 1921, pp. 101, 134, drawing repr. f.p. 136.
• Way, Thomas Robert, and G. R. Dennis, The Art of James McNeill Whistler: An Appreciation, 1st edition, London, 1903, p. 46.
• Way, Thomas Robert, Memories of James McNeill Whistler, the Artist, London and New York, 1912, pp. 29, 135-36, 139.

Books, General

• None.

Catalogues 1906-Present

• Sweet, Frederick A., James McNeill Whistler, Art Institute of Chicago and Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, 1968 (cat. no. 34, ref. to drawing).

Journals 1906-Present

• None.

Websites

• None.

Unpublished

• None.

Other

• None.