The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Portrait of Miss Caird dates from 1875. ¹

Whistler wrote to Frances Leyland (1834-1910), probably in September 1875,

'Miss Caird came on the Tuesday instead of Wednesday ... She stands very untireingly [sic] though I fear she must have found that day in the Studio rather a dull one - for Horace who might have relieved the monotony of work with his piano did not turn up until the next day! -

The picture draws near its completion and I was able to persuade Miss Caird to give me another sitting on the Thursday - She left the same evening for Wales - but I hope may come back in about a week and give me a couple more sittings if possible - for I am most anxious to finish - that the picture may not be lost - and that she may not weary of it now that I have so nearly done.' ²

In this letter to Mrs Leyland, Whistler also referred to his various commissions from her husband, Frederick Richards Leyland (1832-1892).

Symphony in Flesh Colour and Pink: Portrait of Mrs Frances Leyland, The Frick Collection

It is possible Miss Caird was standing in for Mrs Leyland's own portrait (Symphony in Flesh Colour and Pink: Portrait of Mrs Frances Leyland y106) which had been exhibited by the time of the letter cited above, although not delivered to Leyland. However, she may well have been posing for her own portrait: if so it has not survived.

Images

Subject

Titles

Only one title has been suggested:

• 'Portrait of Miss Caird' (YMSM, 1980). ³

Description

The portrait of a woman.

Sitter

'Miss Caird' may have been Emma Grace Caird (Mrs H. Marryat) (1849-1927).

D. S. Foggie, Mrs Emma Grace Marryat, 1929, Dundee City Council

Information on her comes from the Mapping Memorials to Women in Scotland website:

'She was born 23 August 1849, the youngest daughter of wealthy mill owner Edward Caird and his second wife Grace Caw. Emma had a close sibling relationship with her elder half-brother, James (later Sir James) Caird, with whom she traveled extensively. In 1892, aged 43, Emma married Lt. Col. Herbert Marryat of the Manchester Regiment. Their only daughter, Grace Lois Caird Marryat died in infancy in 1893. Emma Marryat's half brother died in 1916 and her husband in 1917. She became a very wealthy woman. She spent the last ten years of her life giving a fortune away – she donated to Dundee Royal Infirmary, gifted the Belmont Estate as a rest home for disabled soldiers and also gave money to complete the Caird Hall, in the City Square, where the smaller adjacent hall is named after her. She was made a burgess of the city in 1918; only the fourth woman to receive this honour. Her portrait was painted by David Simpson Foggie, and now hangs in the Caird Hall foyer. Emma Marryat died in 1927.' ⁴

Technique

Technique

Unknown.

Conservation History

Unknown.

Frame

Unknown.

History

Provenance

Unknown.

Exhibitions

Unknown.

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. 162) as 'Portrait of Miss Caird'.

Authored by Whistler

• None.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• None.

Journals 1855-1905

• None.

Monographs

• None.

Books on Whistler

• None.

Books, General

• None.

Catalogues 1906-Present

• None.

Journals 1906-Present

• None.

Websites

• On Emma Grace Caird (Mrs H. Marryat), Mapping Memorials to Women in Scotland website at http://womenofscotland.org.uk/women/emma-caird-or-marryat.

Unpublished

• None.

Other

• None.