The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

The Blue Girl: Portrait of Miss Elinor Leyland dates from between 1873 and 1875. ¹ According to the Pennells:

'Mr. Leyland gave Whistler commissions to paint his four children, Mrs. Leyland and himself ... Whistler made long visits at Speke Hall, Leyland's place near Liverpool. ... The big canvases travelled with him, backward and forward, between Speke Hall and London, and the sittings were continued in both places. They all sat to him. The children hated posing as much as they delighted in Whistler ... There are pastels of the three little girls, sketches in pen and ink, and the fine group of drypoints. Of Elinor Leyland, a large full-length oil was started, the first of his Blue Girls.' ²

Study for a portrait of Baby Leyland, Freer Gallery of Art

1873: Drawings of Elinor Leyland, such as Elinor Leyland seated with a dog m0515, Study for a portrait of Baby Leyland m0517, and Elinor Leyland m0518, suggest a date around 1873.

1874: The etching Elinor Leyland [137], dating from 1874, shows her in a similar pose to the painting.

1875: On 12 May Whistler's mother wrote to Frances Leyland (1834-1910), who was at Speke Hall:

'I hope my dear Jamie may soon finish the portraits at the Hall & be permitted to come home to work as he has been doing this week. Beg Elinor in pity to my loneliness to encourage & help the Artist, I know she is weary of him & of posing, but I am sure she & Flo & Jamie will be as anxious as we all are to have their likeness perfected.' ³

Study for 'The Blue Girl: Portrait of Miss Elinor Leyland', Art Institute of Chicago

1875/1876: Another drawing, Study for 'The Blue Girl: Portrait of Miss Elinor Leyland' m0717, reproduced above, shows the composition in some detail, and appears to date from 1875/1876.

About the same time, Walter Greaves (1846-1930) planned to paint his sister Eliza Greaves (Mrs George Rainger) (1838-1878) wearing a blue dress, and Whistler asked him not to do so, 'for you know ... my picture of little Miss Leyland in blue cashmire [sic] and velvet - in short, the arrangement in blue - you know how jolly it is - and of course I shall paint it directly I have time.' ⁴

W. Greaves, The Green Dress, Tate, London

Although Greaves went ahead, as he said, 'It never did us any good to go against Mr. Whistler, for that verdigris blue turned green after all'; the resulting picture is known as The Green Dress (reproduced above). ⁵ And Whistler never did, apparently, 'have time' to finish his portrait.

The Blue Girl: Portrait of Miss Elinor Leyland, fragment, Freer Gallery of Art

1879: According to an inscription by Charles Augustus Howell (1840?-1890) on the back of a drawing, Study for 'The Blue Girl: Portrait of Miss Elinor Leyland' m0717, the painting was destroyed by Whistler early in 1879.

Images

Subject

Titles

One main title predominates:

• 'The Blue Girl: Portrait of Miss Elinor Leyland' (1980, YMSM). ⁶

However, this painting was destroyed except for one section cut from the lower right-hand side of the original canvas and another from the lower left-hand side. These were given the titles 'Yellow and Blue' and 'Purple and Blue' respectively, in the Freer catalogue written by Burns A. Stubbs. ⁷

Description

The Blue Girl: Portrait of Miss Elinor Leyland, fragment, Freer Gallery of Art

The Blue Girl: Portrait of Miss Elinor Leyland, fragment, Freer Gallery of Art

The two surviving fragments show blue and white Chinese porcelain with flowers.

Sitter

Elinor Leyland (1861-1952) was born on 16 October 1861.

According to the Pennells, Frederick Richards Leyland (1832-1892) commissioned a large full-length portrait of his youngest daughter 'Babs' or 'Baby' Elinor Leyland (1861-1952). ⁸

Study for a portrait of Baby Leyland, Freer Gallery of Art

She was a favourite subject: Whistler made many drawings of her. He wrote to her mother, 'how delighted I was to see again the lovely Babs - really that child is exasperatin[g]ly lovely.' ⁹

The oil portrait of Elinor was one of a sequence of 'Blue Girls' (see Annabel Lee y079, The Blue Girl: Maud Franklin y112). In the later editions of Pennell (1911, 1920, and 1921) the portrait under discussion was mistakenly identified as Florence Leyland, and both Duret and Pennell (1908) identified drawings of Elinor as Florence. ¹⁰

Technique

Composition

According to the Pennells the portrait of Elinor Leyland as commissioned by F. R. Leyland was to be a large full length. ¹¹

Whistler described it as 'my picture of little Miss Leyland in blue cashmere and velvet - in short, the arrangement in blue.' ¹² The Pennells write that in this painting Whistler 'wished to paint blue on blue as he had painted white on white.' ¹³ The colour scheme, according to Thomas Robert Way (1861-1913), was inspired by the famous Blue Boy of Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788), which is now in the Huntington Library, San Marino, CA. ¹⁴

Velázquez, Pablo de Valladolid, photo, GUL Whistler PH 3/9

Elinor's pose, on the other hand, has been likened to that of Pablo de Valladolid by Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velázquez (1599-1660), of which Whistler owned a photograph. ¹⁵

The Blue Girl, Freer Gallery of Art

The composition is known from an elaborate pastel in the Freer Gallery of Art, r.: The Blue Girl; v.: Curtain m0521. The background is blue, her hat and short dress are in two shades of blue. The little girl, with short red hair parted in the middle, hands on her waist and legs slightly apart, stands facing the spectator.

Studies of Baby Leyland, Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute

There are several studies of Elinor in this position, showing her full face, including Elinor Leyland seated with a dog m0515, Studies of Baby Leyland m0516 (reproduced above), Study for a portrait of Baby Leyland m0517, Elinor Leyland m0518, Study for 'The Blue Girl: Portrait of Miss Elinor Leyland' m0519, and Study for 'The Blue Girl: Portrait of Miss Elinor Leyland' m0520. The drypoint Elinor Leyland [137] shows a very similar composition, and dates from about 1873.

Study for 'The Blue Girl: Portrait of Miss Elinor Leyland', Art Institute of Chicago

A pen drawing of the portrait, Study for 'The Blue Girl: Portrait of Miss Elinor Leyland' m0717, was signed with a butterfly by Whistler that can be dated about 1879, and was labelled 'Miss Eleanor Leyland. "Babs" ' by Charles Augustus Howell (1840?-1890).

The Blue Girl: Portrait of Connie Gilchrist, The Hunterian

Whistler returned to the colour scheme about 1879 with a similar composition (The Blue Girl: Portrait of Connie Gilchrist y207) which may account for a story told by Mortimer Luddington Menpes (1860-1938) about the 'Blue Girl': 'The father of a family of three or four girls told me that each maiden in her turn, as she reached the desired age, had sat to Whistler for the same picture – until at last even the youngest had grown too old, and the picture was finished with a damsel from another family altogether.' ¹⁶

The Blue Girl: Portrait of Miss Elinor Leyland, fragment, FGA

Oviform Pot and cover, Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute

Oviform Pot and cover, Private Collection

The blue and white porcelain could have come from Whistler's own collection, which was sold at the time of his bankruptcy in 1879, or from the collection of F. R. Leyland. Between 1876 and 1878 Whistler had made numerous pen, ink, and wash studies of porcelain for the catalogue of Sir Henry Thompson's collection. ¹⁷ Whistler's expressive brushwork conveyed the essence of the designs on the porcelain, and indeed some studies for the final illustrations – including Oviform Pot and cover m0646 and Oviform Pot and cover m0647, reproduced above – are comparable to the pieces painted on Elinor Leyland's portrait.

Technique

The Blue Girl: Portrait of Miss Elinor Leyland, Freer Gallery of Art

The remaining fragments are painted with fairly full round soft brushstrokes and creamy textured paint.

Conservation History

The Blue Girl: Portrait of Miss Elinor Leyland, fragment, FGA

It was among the 'Bundles of rubbish [which] were carried off for a few shillings' at the White House after Whistler's bankruptcy in 1879 'in such a deplorable condition that nothing now remains but the two pots of flowers which stood on either side of the figure.' ¹⁸

Study for 'The Blue Girl: Portrait of Miss Elinor Leyland', Art Institute of Chicago

According to an inscription in C. A. Howell's hand on the back of Study for 'The Blue Girl: Portrait of Miss Elinor Leyland' m0717, the oil was 'destroyed by Whistler in the early part of 1879.' It was probably one of the 'unfinished portraits of two of [Leyland's] daughters' painted 'in a very high key' and 'more or less destroyed' by Whistler at the time of the bankruptcy in 1879, according to Thomas Robert Way (1861-1913). Way said that Whistler 'destroyed [it] leaving only the lower half of the canvas with two blue and white pots of flowers, which formed part of the background. These were preserved in the form of two panels.' ¹⁹

In October 1907 C. L. Freer of Detroit bought from T. R. Way 'A Chinese Vase filled with yellow flowers' cut from the right-hand side, and 'A Chinese vase, filled with flowers and a large dish' cut from the left-hand side of the full-length oil. ²⁰ The fragments were relined and resurfaced in 1925, cleaned and surfaced in 1951, according to Freer Gallery conservation files. David Curry remarked in 1984 that they were 'somewhat dark and murky.' ²¹

Frame

The Blue Girl: Portrait of Miss Elinor Leyland, fragment, framed

The Blue Girl: Portrait of Miss Elinor Leyland, fragment, framed

Flat Whistler, with missing outer frame, possibly dating from 1879. ²²

History

Provenance

• 1879: at the time of Whistler's bankruptcy, bought by a picture dealer on behalf of the London printer Thomas Way (1837-1915);
• 1881/1896: passed to his son, Thomas Robert Way (1861-1913), London;
• 1907: bought from T. R. Way by Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919), Detroit;
• 1919: bequeathed by C. L. Freer to the Freer Gallery of Art.

According to an inscription in the hand of Charles Augustus Howell (1840?-1890) on the back of a drawing of Elinor, the painting was destroyed by Whistler early in 1879. ²³ According to the Pennells, it was among the 'Bundles of rubbish [which] were carried off for a few shillings' at the White House after Whistler's bankruptcy in 1879, 'in such a deplorable condition that nothing now remains but the two pots of flowers which stood on either side of the figure.' ²⁴ It was probably one of the 'unfinished portraits of two of [Leyland's] daughters' that were 'more or less destroyed' by Whistler at the time of the bankruptcy in 1879, according to T. R. Way, and bought by a picture dealer, after F. R. Leyland had refused to take them, on behalf of his father, Thomas Way. T. R. Way hung them in his rooms until Whistler asked him to take them down. In October 1907 C. L. Freer bought from T. R. Way two fragments, 'A Chinese Vase filled with yellow flowers' cut from the right-hand side and 'A Chinese vase, filled with flowers and a large dish' cut from the left-hand side of the canvas, for £210. ²⁵

Exhibitions

It was not exhibited in Whistler's lifetime.

By the terms of C. L. Freer's bequest to the Freer Gallery of Art, the painting cannot be lent.

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. 111) as 'The Blue Girl: Portrait of Miss Elinor Leyland', plates 391-394.
• MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995, drawings, cat. nos. 516-521.
• Margaret F. MacDonald, Grischka Petri, Meg Hausberg, and Joanna Meacock, James McNeill Whistler: The Etchings, a catalogue raisonné, University of Glasgow, 2012, website at http://etchings.arts.gla.ac.uk (G.137).

Authored by Whistler

• None.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• None.

Journals 1855-1905

• Anon., The Studio Whistler Portfolio, London, 1905 (ten colour reproductions), drawing repr. pl. 8.

Monographs

• None.

Books on Whistler

• Duret, Théodore, Histoire de J. McN. Whistler et de son oeuvre, Paris, 1904, drawings repr. pp. 53, 198.
• Lane, James W., Whistler, (American Artists Series), New York, 1942, 'Yellow and Blue' (right-hand panel) repr. p. 76.
• Menpes, Mortimer, Whistler as I Knew Him, London, 1904, p. 75.
• Merrill, Linda, The Peacock Room. A Cultural Biography, New Haven and London, 1998, pp. 127, 138-139, 141-142, 209, 266, fig. 6.21.
• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Life of James McNeill Whistler, 2 vols, London and Philadelphia, 1908, vol. 1, pp. 175-176, 258, drawings repr. f.p. 174.
• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Life of James McNeill Whistler, 5th (revised) edition, London and Philadelphia, 1911, pp. 124, 186.
• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Whistler Journal, Philadelphia, 1921, p. 134.
• Way, Thomas Robert, and G. R. Dennis, The Art of James McNeill Whistler: An Appreciation, 1st edition, London, 1903, p. 46, drawing repr. f.p. 46.
• Way, Thomas Robert, Memories of James McNeill Whistler, the Artist, London and New York, 1912, pp. 30, 135-136, 139.

Books, General

• Brinton, Christian, Walter Greaves (Pupil of Whistler), New York, 1912, p. 58.

Catalogues 1906-Present

COLLECTION:

• Stubbs, Burns A., Paintings, Pastels, Drawings, Prints and Copper Plates by and attributed to American and European Artists, together with a List of Original Whistleriana in the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1948, p. 13 (07.180-181).
• Curry, David Park, James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art, New York and London, 1984, p. 250.

EXHIBITION:

• Sweet, Frederick A., James McNeill Whistler, Art Institute of Chicago and Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, 1968 (drawing, cat. no. 82).
• MacDonald, Margaret F., Whistler. The Graphic Work: Amsterdam, Liverpool, London, Venice, Agnew and Sons, London; Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool; City Art Gallery, Glasgow, 1976 (drawings, cat. nos. 69-74)

Journals 1906-Present

• MacDonald, Margaret F., 'Whistler's Designs for a Catalogue of Blue and White Nankin Porcelain', Connoisseur, vol. 198, August 1975, pp. 290-95, 'Purple and Blue' (left-hand panel) repr. p. 291.

Websites

• Freer Gallery of Art website at https://asia.si.edu/object/F1907.180a-c, and website at https://asia.si.edu/object/F1907.181a-c.

Unpublished

• Revillon, Joseph Whistler, Draft Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings of J. McN. Whistler, [ca 1945-1955], Glasgow University Library (cat. nos. 124, 451-452).

Other

• Parkerson, Sarah Lawrence, Variations in Gold: The Stylistic Development of the Picture Frames used by James McNeill Whistlers, PhD thesis, University of Glasgow, 2007.