The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Harmony in Blue and Gold: The Peacock Room dates from 1876-1877. ¹

The Liverpool ship-owner Frederick Richards Leyland (1832-1892) bought a London house at 49 Princes Gate and commissioned Richard Norman Shaw (1831-1912) to direct its reconstruction 'to create for him an opulent interior reminiscent of an Italian palace.' ²

Whistler was invited to decorate the entrance hall. Several of his panels are now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the rest at the Freer Gallery of Art (see Panels from the Entrance Hall at 49 Princes Gate y175). The architect Thomas Jeckyll (1827-1881) was commissioned to design the dining room, providing space for Leyland's collection of porcelain, which had been purchased from Murray Marks (1840-1918), and for two of Whistler's paintings. La Princesse du pays de la porcelaine y050 was to hang above the fireplace, and The Three Girls y088, which in the end was never finished, was proposed for the opposite wall. ³

According to the Whistler's biographers, Elizabeth Robins Pennell (1855-1936) and Joseph Pennell (1860-1926):

'Some say the original scheme was that Morris and Burne-Jones should decorate and furnish the dining room, though when Whistler stepped in, they vanished … Whistler designed the side-board. A space was left over the mantel for the Princesse [La Princesse du pays de la porcelaine y050] and another at the opposite end of the room, for paintings by Burne-Jones and Whistler, who wished the Three Figures, Pink and Grey to hang there and face the Princesse.' ⁴

In April 1876 Thomas Jeckyll asked Leyland, who in turn asked Whistler, about colours for the dining room windows and doors:

'Jekell [sic] writes to know what colour to do the doors and windows in [the] dining room. He speaks of two yellows and white - Would it not be better to do it like [the] dado in the hall - i.e using dutch metal in large masses. It ought to go well with the leather. I wrote to him suggesting this but I wish you would give him your ideas.' ⁵

According to the Pennells, Whistler thought the colours of the carpet's border and of the flowers on the leather wall hangings clashed with the Princesse, whereupon Leyland gave Whistler permission to change them. ⁶

Whistler went on to paint the shelves with a combination of dutch metal (imitation gold leaf) and a transparent greenish glaze. Jeckyll became ill and was forced to abandon the project completely. Whistler lived at 49 Princes Gate all through the summer of 1876 in order to work on the room decoration. ⁷ He told the Pennells, 'I just painted as I went on, without design or sketch – it grew as I painted.' ⁸ In fact, Whistler did not do all the work, but had several assistants, including Matthew Robinson Elden (1839-1885), Henry Greaves (1843-1904), and Walter Greaves (1846-1930). In August Whistler told Leyland,

'Your walls are finished - they are to receive their last coat of varnish tomorrow - (indeed the men promised to do part this afternoon) - and on Friday you can put up the pots -

The blue which I tried as an experiment was quite injurious on the tone of that leather - and so I have carefully erased all trace of it - retouching the small yellow flowers wherever required - leaving the whole work perfect and complete - The wave pattern above and below - on the green gold - will alone be painted in blue - and this I shall come and do on Friday - without at all interfering with the pots or the leather.' ⁹

By September 1876 Whistler's 'wave pattern' had evolved into a peacock scheme. The story that Whistler had proposed a similar scheme to William Cleverly Alexander (1840-1916), which was not accepted, is apocryphal. ¹⁰ It probably originates with W. C. Alexander himself. ¹¹

Shutters of the Peacock Room with peacock decoration, Freer Gallery of Art

According to the Academy, by 2 September 1876 the remaining leather on the walls had been modified by 'primrose' touches on the flowers, Whistler had painted peacock feather designs in deep blue on the gold of the ceiling and lamp pendants: the cornice, dado, doors and shutters bore a 'blue powdering on the gold ground' in a design based on the breast feathers, while the inside of the shutters, when closed, was painted with full-sized peacocks. ¹² Alan Summerly Cole (1846-1934) described in his diary on 20 September 1876, 'Peacock feather devices – blues and golds', and he implied that the dado and panels were completed by 26 October 1876. ¹³

In mid-October 1876, Leyland unexpectedly returned to London. He was undoubtedly surprised by the liberties Whistler had taken, and seems to have withheld any enthusiasm over Whistler's work. ¹⁴ It became apparent that thare had been no written agreement over payment for Whistler's work. On 21 October 1876 Leyland wrote to the artist from Speke Hall near Liverpool, refusing to pay the £2000 suggested by Whistler for his work on the decoration, because he had only expected the work on the leather and ceiling to take a few days; since he could not afford £1200 for the peacock shutters he suggested that Whistler should take them away. ¹⁵ Leyland refused to pay more, though Whistler asserted that they had agreed each to contribute 1000 guineas to the 'disaster of the decoration.' ¹⁶ On 30 October 1876 Leyland sent Whistler £600, having already lent him £250 and advanced £150, to complete the £1000 'agreed to be paid you for decorations at Princes Gate.' ¹⁷

Whistler continued to work on the Peacock Room, now determined to immortalise the quarrel with his patron in his very home, as he wrote to Leyland, 'so that in some future dull Vassari [sic] you also may go down to posterity, like the man who paid Corregio [sic] in pennies!' ¹⁸

Sketches of the Peacock Room, The Hunterian

Fighting Peacocks, Glasgow University Library

Cartoon for The Rich Peacock and the Poor Peacock, The Hunterian

To this end, Whistler designed a large panel, The Rich Peacock and the Poor Peacock, to hang on the south wall of the room, opposite the Princesse du pays de la porcelaine.He spent November drawing a full-scale cartoon for the panel (Cartoon of rich and poor Peacocks m0584). It was pricked for transfer, following the academic methods of mural painting he had learned from Albert Joseph Moore (1841-1893). The mural was then painted with two shades of gold and silver to highlight and distinguish details. ¹⁹

The Rich Peacock and the Poor Peacock, south wall of the Peacock Room, Freer Gallery of Art

Whistler definitely intended the panel on the south wall as a commentary on his relations with Leyland, and, after Leyland had finally forbidden him ever to enter his house again, Whistler drafted a letter to Mrs Leyland, which said: 'I refer you to the Cartoon opposite you at dinner, known to all London as l'Art et l'Argent or the Story of the Room.' ²⁰

Meanwhile, Alan S. Cole noted progress in his diary; the 'superb' Golden Peacocks were completed by 4 December 1876. ²¹ Several friends helped Whistler with the completion of the design: the Greaves brothers helped Whistler to lay on the gold, ²² and Louise Jopling (1843-1933) remembered adding some touches. ²³ By 15 December Whistler was thinking about cutting off Jeckyll's pendant lamps. ²⁴

An article on the Peacock Room had appeared in the Morning Post on 8 December 1876, which upset Leyland. Not only was his name misreported as Naylor Leyland, the article also revealed to him the extent of Whistler’s change of the original decorations, including the blue walls. ²⁵ Possibly as a reaction, Leyland returned to London and 'turned up suddenly at a moment when the room was half finished and in a state of wild disorder, and insisted upon seeing it.' ²⁶ After a series of articles had appeared in January 1877, Leyland's residence was effectively converted into a temporary art gallery. The Observer wrote that 'Mr. Leyland, we believe, allows his collection to be viewed by the public during his absence from town – a boon which has only to be known to be greatly appreciated.' ²⁷

On 9 February 1877 Whistler held a press view in Leyland's house, at which he distributed his pamphlet Harmony in Blue and Gold. The Peacock Room, a 'precursor of the modern press release', printed by the lithographer Thomas Way (1837-1915). ²⁸

The press response was favourable. The writer for The Standard concluded: 'In detail, and as a whole, the “Peacock-room” is a great gain over the ordinary mechanical methods of decorating saloons.' ²⁹ Nevertheless, Leyland wanted to repossess his London home and requested that Whistler 'refuse any further applications to view the room.' ³⁰ On 5 March 1877, according to A. S. Cole, Whistler was trying to complete the peacocks on the shutters until 2 a.m. ³¹ Linda Merrill concludes that these were Whistler's last hours in the Peacock Room, as Leyland was about to return to London. ³²

The Peacock Room at 49 Prince's Gate, photograph, 1877, S. P. Avery Collection, New York Public Library

The first extant photograph of the Peacock Room at 49 Prince's Gate, reproduced above, may have been taken in the spring of 1877, and shows parts of F. R. Leyland's collection of blue-and-white porcelain.

Whistler continued socialising with Frances Leyland (1834-1910) until his former patron furiously forbade Whistler to enter his house again. ³³ After Whistler had threatened to publish their correspondence, a plan that never materialised, Leyland put an end to his patronage:

'It is scarcely necessary for me to notice your assertion that I am only known as the possessor of your peacock room. I hope it is not true; but if true it is doubly painful for, at the time so many newspaper puffs of your work appeared, I felt deeply enough the humiliation of having my name so prominently connected with that of a man who had degenerated into nothing but an artistic Barnum.' ³⁴

Leyland's refusal to pay Whistler an additional £1000 for his decorations to the Peacock Room was justifiable but undoubtedly put Whistler's finances in deficit for the rest of the decade. Whistler held Leyland accountable for his bankruptcy in 1879 (see The Gold Scab y208), but the only thing he regretted, he said, was creating such a beautiful room for an unappreciative audience. Whistler wrote from Venice in the spring of 1880:

'I went to a grand high mass in St Marc's and very swell it all was - but do you know I couldn't help feeling that the Peacock Room is more beautiful in its effect! - and certainly the glory and delicacy of the ceiling is far more complete than the decorations of the golden domes make them - That was a pleasant frame of mind to be in you will acknowledge - and I am sure you are not surprised at it!' ³⁵

Images

Subject

Titles

The title 'Harmony in Blue and Gold: The Peacock Room' was used by Whistler from the beginning, and is the preferred title. ⁴⁰ This remains the full title of what is commonly shortened to 'The Peacock Room'. ⁴¹

Description

Peter Ferriday gives a full description of Jeckyll's designs for the dining room: the incised, Oriental-looking shelving was effective; the Jacobean pendant ceiling, fitted to hold gas lights, was heavy and incongruous, but matched other ceilings in the house; the andirons were sunflowers, borrowed from one of Jeckyll's most successful works, the Pavilion he designed for Barnard's at the Philadelphia Exhibition of 1876. ⁴² Following the example of Cyril Flower (1843-1907), later Lord Battersea, who had 'a room hung with Spanish leather in which there was Blue and White [china]', Murray Marks (1840-1918) recommended gilt leather for the walls and acquired it for Leyland's residence at a cost of £1000. ⁴³

Harmony in Blue and Gold: The Peacock Room, Freer Gallery of Art

Whistler's own description, which he published in a leaflet for visitors of the recently (almost) finished Peacock Room, focused on pattern and colour:

'HARMONY IN BLUE AND GOLD.

THE PEACOCK ROOM

The Peacock is taken as a means of carrying out this arrangement.

A pattern, invented from the Eye of the Peacock, is seen in the ceiling spreading from the lamps. Between them is a pattern devised from the breast-feathers.

These two patterns are repeated throughout the room.

In the cove, the Eye will be seen running along beneath the small breast-work or throat-feathers.

On the lowest shelf the Eye is again seen, and on the shelf above – these patterns are combined: the Eye, the Breast-feathers, and the Throat.

Beginning again from the blue floor, on the dado is the breast-work, BLUE ON GOLD, while above, on the Blue wall, the pattern is reversed, GOLD ON BLUE.

Above the breast-work on the dado the Eye is again found, also reversed, that is GOLD ON BLUE, as hitherto BLUE ON GOLD.

The arrangement is completed by the Blue Peacocks on the Gold shutters, and finally the Gold Peacocks on the Blue wall.' ⁴⁴

George Charles Williamson (1858-1942) remarks that the Peacock Room appeared to best effect 'by artificial light, when the shutters, which formed an integral part of the scheme were closed.' However, he says that Leyland regretted the loss of the original scheme, because Jeckyll's slender shelving looked fine with the collection of blue and white porcelain against the leather, whereas less porcelain could be exhibited with Whistler's decoration. ⁴⁵

Site

The original site of the room was 49 Princes Gate in London. ⁴⁶

The Peacock Room was disassembled several times: in 1904 Obach & Co. dismantled it and exhibit it on their own premises in London, after which it was disassembled and shipped to Detroit for Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919). It was dismantled again before being installed at the Freer Gallery of Art in Washington DC in 1920. ⁴⁷

Sitter

The fighting peacock on the right is a crypto-portrait of Frederick Richards Leyland (1832-1892), made recognisable by the silver coins on its chest, which refer both to Leyland’s habit of wearing frilled shirts and to his refusal to pay Whistler the additional £1000 he had asked for. ⁴⁸

Technique

Composition

Two Peacocks, from G. A. Audsley & J. Lord Bowes, Keramic Art of Japan, 1875, plate L

The panel The Rich Peacock and the Poor Peacock was installed on the south wall of the room. Susan Hobbs has pointed out that Whistler probably used a drawing of fighting peacocks from the recently published Keramic Art of Japan as the basis for his own composition. ⁴⁹

Peacock Designs, British Museum

Three Peacock shutters, New York Public Library

There are pen drawings by Whistler that relate to this panel in several collections: the Hunterian, the British Museum, and in the Avery Collection, New York Public Library (see Three Peacock shutters m0580).

Cartoon of rich and poor Peacocks, The Hunterian

The full-scale Cartoon of rich and poor Peacocks m0584 was pricked for transfer. It shows numerous pentimenti in chalk and wash, and is, in itself, a vigorous and striking drawing, unique in Whistler's oeuvre.

Three Peacock shutters , New York Public Library

Fighting Peacocks, New York Public Library

Sketches of the Peacock Room, The Hunterian

Fighting Peacocks, Glasgow University Library

The drawings for the shutters in the Hunterian and the Avery Collection (Three Peacock shutters m0580 and Fighting Peacocks m0581) and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, have been considered later than the painted decorations. ⁵⁰

The walls of the Peacock Room, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

Window in the Peacock Room, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

Peacock shutters, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

Fighting Peacocks, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

Several drawings were given to Isabella Stewart Gardner (1840-1924) and are in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston (The walls of the Peacock Room m0989, Window in the Peacock Room m0990, and Peacock shutters m0991). These drawings, according to the American artist Robert Goodloe Harper Pennington (1854 or 1855-d. 1920), were drawn eight years after the completion of the room. ⁵¹ None of these pen drawings show any marked differences from the completed panel; it is possible that they were all done from memory.

However, the drawings in the Avery Collection and Gardner Museum for the central shutter both show the butterfly on a semi-circular field, radiating light: and in the latter, the right-hand peacock has its wings much more outspread, cutting across the vertical space between the peacocks. In the drawing for the left-hand shutter in the Avery Collection, the peacock's feathers extend to the edge of the shutter on the left except at the upper left corner. Furthermore, the pen drawings for the side panels, in the Gardner Museum, may indicate that Whistler had an idea of inserting fully opened peacock tails in the panels above the dado.

Sketch of the Peacock Room, Art Institute of Chicago

A pencil Sketch of the Peacock Room m1581), according to a signed inscription by the artist Albert Ludovici, Jr (1852-1932), was drawn by Whistler on 17 December 1893 'to give me an idea of it.' ⁵²

Technique

Whistler's decoration was applied to the leather wall hangings. Linda Merrill has identified the leather as Dutch gilt leather from ca 1770, showing spiraling ribbons of roses and other summer flowers painted upon a lustrous surface. ⁵³

Whistler had several assistants, including Matthew Robinson Elden (1839-1885), and probably Henry Greaves (1843-1904) and Walter Greaves (1846-1930), and tradesmen including 'Dick', who may have been Richard Watson, carver and gilder, of 146 Wardour Street, London, or Richard Annis, carver and gilder; of 36 Holland Street. A letter from Whistler to Elden indicates that he was temporarily in charge of works:

'Pray see that Dick repairs and gilds the one or two little places on the ceiling - all ready for me to retouch directly I return -

The Groinings in the ceiling must by this time be all gilt and varnished -

They can then go right on with the dado in the same Dutch Metal, begin[n]ing by the door and going round by the fire place -

The carved pillars are to be gilded all right and they might put in a couple on each side of the picture.' ⁵⁴

Jeckyll suffered from a mental breakdown, which brought work to a sudden halt in the spring of 1876. Whistler therefore stepped in to oversee the gilding of ceiling, doors, shutters, cornice, wainscotting and dado with 'Dutch metal'. ⁵⁵

The Pennells describe Whistler painting the Peacock Room, 'spending his days on ladders and scaffolding, lying in a hammock, painting with a brush fastened to a fishing-rod.' ⁵⁶ The American painter George Henry Boughton (1833-1905) stated that he found Whistler 'up on high, lying on his back often. As far as I could see he let no hand touch it but his own.' ⁵⁷ However, Walter Greaves stated that he 'painted part of the ceiling, finding for him [Whistler] at Freeman's, in Battersea, the verdigris blue used for the screen. Whistler was thoroughly enchanted with it, though I told him that, in my opinion, it would not stand.' ⁵⁸

Whistler used a variety of brushes, including very fine pointed brushes for the details of radiating light and shading, and bigger, rounded brushes for bolder effects. The brushwork was finely controlled and although some of the background colouring could have been done 'with a brush fastened to a fishing-rod', much of it was close work, done with expressive and precise brush strokes.

Conservation History

After the death of F. R. Leyland in 1892, and when the efforts to auction the property at 49 Prince’s Gate turned out to be unsuccessful, there were rumours about the imminent destruction of the Peacock Room, while ideas to remove the room from the building to preserve it were circulated among artistic circles. When Blanche Marie Georgiana Watney (1837-1915) purchased the house in 1894, she had it extensively remodelled but left the Peacock Room intact. ⁵⁹

The Peacock Room has been disassembled four times, with accompanying restoration and conservation treatments. In 1904, Obach & Co. dismantled it at the original site to exhibit it on their own premises, in the same year it was disassembled again and shipped to Detroit for Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919), and it was dismantled for the third time before its installation at the Freer Gallery in Washington in 1920. It was then that the north and south pair of shutters were reversed, an error finally rectified in the 1990s. ⁶⁰

The Peacock Room at the Freer Gallery of Art, photograph, 1920s

In 1926 an attempt was made to repair cracked and buckled areas, and the damaged ceiling; by 1942 it had become apparent that the room's structure was unstable; in addition the Peacock panel at the south end of the room was repaired and retouched. ⁶¹ Between 1947 and 1949 two Boston restorers, John and Richard Finlayson, carried out an extensive renovation with the 'best methods' of the day. The wall hangings were remounted with wax on a new plywood framework, the damaged ceiling was repaired, and the cracked and buckled leather was restored. Many surfaces of the room were retouched or repainted. The room was finally re-installed in 1949. An article published in 1950 mentions the accumulated dirt and residue from gas fumes, and notes that the color has been 'restored to the original blue.' ⁶² Today the room remains structurally sound, due to the treatment by the Finlaysons. ⁶³ However, many delicate peacock feathers on the shutters were clumsily reworked and Whistler's signature butterfly at the top of the central shutters was obscured by a coat of flat gold paint. ⁶⁴

Raymond Schwartz, The Peacock Room during restoration, photograph, 1947, Freer Gallery of Art

Raymond Schwartz, North-western corner of the Peacock Room during restoration, photograph, 1947, Freer Gallery of Art

After carrying out cleaning tests in 1989, the room underwent major conservation between 1990 and 1992 under the direction of Wendy Samet, with the assistance of Joyce Hill Stoner. Using solvents specially devised by Richard Wolbers, the dense accumulation of dirt, repaint, and yellowed varnish was removed. ⁶⁵

History

Provenance

• 1877: installed at 49 Princes Gate, London, for Frederick Richards Leyland (1832-1892);
• 1892: after Leyland's death, 49 Princes Gate was auctioned by Osborn & Mercer, London, 17 June 1892, but failed to find a buyer (withdrawn at £20,100);
• 1894: 49 Prince's Gate was bought for £25,000 by Blanche Marie Georgiana Watney (1837-1915), of Thorney Lodge, Palace Gate, widow of James Watney, the brewer and Liberal MP;
• 1904: early in the year, bought through Brown & Phillips, London dealers, for £10,000 by Obach, London dealers, who had it dismantled, and exhibited it;
• 1904: before the exhibition opened, the room was sold on 16 May to Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919), for £8400, and shipped from Southampton on 10 September;
• 1906: installed in Freer's house, 33 Ferry Avenue, Detroit, during March 1906; ⁶⁶
• 1919: bequeathed by C. L. Freer to the Freer Gallery of Art.

J. E. Mitchell after Whistler, 'The Peacock Room', engraving, The Art Journal, 1892

Osborn & Mercer, The Peacock Room, sale catalogue, 1892

The Peacock Room at the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1920s

The history of the creation, travels and vicissitudes of the Peacock Room are discussed under Date and Technical Description (Conservation) above, and Exhibitions, below.

Exhibitions

• 1877: Exhibited in situ by Whistler in January and February 1877.
• 1904: Exhibited by Messrs Obach June until mid-July 1904, with porcelain from the collection of Alexander Thomas Hollingsworth (b. ca 1848-d.1928) on the shelves.
• 1906-1919: Accessible for selected visitors at Freer’s home in Detroit.
• Since May 1923: On view at the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.

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. 178) as 'Harmony in Blue and Gold: The Peacock Room', plates 116-20.
• MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. nos. 487, 579-84, 989-92, 1581, 1603).

Authored by Whistler

• Whistler, James McNeill, 'Mr. Whistler writes' [Letter to the Editor] in ‘Notes and News’, The Academy, 9 September 1876, p. 275.
• Whistler, James McNeill, Harmony in Blue and Gold. The Peacock Room, London, 1877.
• Whistler, James McNeill, [Letter to 'Atlas'], The World: A Journal For Men and Women, vol. 21, 31 December 1884, reprinted as ‘Noblesse oblige’ in Whistler 1890, p. 174-75. Reprinted in Ford, Sheridan (ed.), The Gentle Art of Making Enemies: With Some Whistler Stories Old and New, New York, 1890, pp. 124-25.
• Whistler, James McNeill, The Gentle Art of Making Enemies, London, 1890, p. 174-75.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• Whistler, James McNeill, Harmony in Blue and Gold. The Peacock Room, London, 1877 (this was not a catalogue but was issued to provide visitors of the room with information).
• Obach & Co. [C. J. Holmes], The Peacock Room, exhibition catalogue, London, June 1904.

Newspapers 1855-1905

• Anon., 'Decorative Art', Morning Post, London, 8 December 1876, p. 2.
• Anon., 'Special Correspondence', Leeds Mercury, Leeds, 6 January 1877, p. 7.
• Anon., 'Art at Home - Mr. Layland’s [sic] at Princes-Gate', Observer, London, 28 January 1877.
• Anon.[Carr, Joseph Comyns], 'Mr Whistler's Decorative Paintings', The Pall Mall Gazette, 15 February 1877, p. 11.
• [Taylor, Tom], 'A Peacock Room', The Times, London, 15 February 1877, p. 4.
• Anon., 'Art: Ornamental Painting', The Examiner, 24 February 1877, pp. 244-45.
• Godwin, E. W., 'Notes on Mr. Whistler’s “Peacock Room” ', Daily Courier, Liverpool, 24 February 1877, pp. 118-19.
• Godwin, E. W., 'Mr. F. R. Leyland’s “Peacock Room” ', Daily Courier, Liverpool, 3 March 1877, p. 6 (reprint of Godwin, E. W., 'Notes on Mr. Whistler’s “Peacock Room” ', Daily Courier, Liverpool, 24 February 1877, pp. 118-19).
• Smalley, George W., 'London Topics: Progress in Household Art', New York Daily Tribune, New York, 5 March 1877, p. 2.
• Smalley, George W., 'Books and Art in London: Notable Literary Events', New York Daily Tribune, New York, 29 March 1877, p. 6.
• Smalley, George W., 'London Topics: Household Decoration … Whistler's 'Harmony in Yellow and Gold' ...', New York Daily Tribune, New York, 6 July 1878, p. 2.
• Anon., 'The Late Mr. Leyland’s Beautiful House: Mr. Whistler and the Peacock Room', The Pall Mall Gazette, London, 6 January 1892, p. 4.
• Anon., 'The Late Mr. Leyland’s Beautiful House: Mr. Whistler and the Peacock Room', Pall Mall Budget, London, vol. 60, 14 January 1892, p. 48.
• Anon., 'A Palace of Art', The Pall Mall Gazette, London, 23 May 1892, p. 3 (Fighting Peacocks repr.).
• Anon., ‘Whistler's Peacock Room’, Pall Mall Gazette, London, 2 June 1904, p. 10.
• Anon., ‘Whistler's “Peacock Room” ’, Standard, London, 10 June 1904.
• Anon., ‘Whistler's “Peacock Room” ’, Morning Post, London, 10 June 1904, p. 9.
• Anon., ‘The Peacock Room: A Whistlerian revenge’, Daily News, London, 10 June 1904. p. 4.
• Anon., ‘Whistler's Peacock Room’, Daily Chronicle, London, 11 June 1904, p. 8.
• Anon., ‘The Peacock Room: Sale to an American’, Daily News, London, 13 June 1904, p. 4.
• Anon., ‘Whistler's Peacock-Room’, Evening Times, Glasgow, 13 June 1904, p. 8.
• Anon., Whistler's 'Peacock Room', Daily Telegraph, London, 13 June 1904, p. 7.
• Anon., ‘Art and Artists’, Star, London, 14 June 1904, p. 1.
• Anon., 'Peacock Room' Goes to Detroit’, New York Herald, New York, 14 June 1904, p. 10.
• Anon., ‘Art Notes’, Illustrated London News, London, 16 June 1904, p. 932.
• Anon., ‘Art and Artists’, Morning Post, London, 16 June 1904, p. 2.
• Anon., 'Mr. Whistler’s Peacock Room', Pall Mall Budget, London, vol. 60, 16 June 1892, pp. 864-65.
• Anon., ‘Mr. Freer is Mum: Will Neither Admit Nor Deny That He Bought the Peacock Room’, World, New York, 20 June 1904, p. 10.
• Anon., 'Whistler’s Peacock Room for America', New York Herald, New York, 17 July 1904, p. 8, repr.
• Anon., ‘Whistler's Work Coming Here’, World, New York, 17 August 1904.
• Anon., ' “Peacock Room” Now in Detroit’, Evening News, Detroit, 3 September 1904, p. 3.
• Anon., 'Whistler’s Peacock Room', Chicago Sunday Tribune, 4 September 1904, repr.

Journals 1855-1905

• Anon., 'Notes and News', The Academy, vol. 10, no. 226, 2 September 1876, p. 249.
• 'Wall Painting by Mr. Whistler', Architect, London, vol. 17, 13 January 1877, p. 26.
• Anon., 'Peacock Decoration', The British Architect and Northern Engineer, vol. 7, 23 February 1877, p. 123.
• Anon., 'Art: Ornamental Painting', The Examiner, 24 February 1877, pp. 244-45.
• Wilde, Oscar, 'The Grosvenor Gallery', Dublin University Magazine, vol. 90, no. 535, July 1877, pp. 118-26, at p. 125.
• [Rossetti, William Michael], 'Notes on Art and Archaeology', The Academy: A Weekly Review of Literature, Science, and Art, new series, no. 11, 17 February 1877, pp. 147-48, at p. 147.
• Duret, Théodore, 'James Whistler', Gazette des beaux-arts, vol. 23, April 1881, pp. 365-69, at pp. 366-67.
• Anon., 'In the Peacock Room: A Variation', Punch, vol. 80, 8 October 1881, p. 157.
• Anon., [Maus, Octave], 'James M.Neill [sic] Whistler', L'Art Moderne, no. 37, 13 September 1885, pp. 294-96.
• Godwin, Edward W., 'Correspondence. Whistler and the Philistines. What is a 'Master', letter to the editor, Court and Society Review, vol. 3, no. 107, 22 July 1886, pp. [611 657-58].
• Dowdeswell, Walter, 'Whistler', The Art Journal, new series, vol. 50, no. 586, April 1887, pp. 97-103, at p. 98.
• Child, Theodore, 'A Pre-Raphaelite Mansion', Harper's New Monthly Magazine, vol. 82, December 1890, pp. 81-99, at pp. 82-85, repr. p. 85.
• Robinson, Lionel, 'The Private Art Collections of London. The Late Mr Frederick Leyland’s in Prince’s Gate. Second Paper The Leyland Collection', Art Journal, vol. 55, May 1892, pp. 134-38, at p. 134, wood engravings by J. E. Mitchell repr. pp. 132, 135.
• Prinsep, Val C., 'A Collector's Correspondence', The Art Journal, August 1892, pp. 249-252.
• Day, Lewis F., 'A Kensington Interior', Art Journal, May 1893, pp. 139-44, at pp. 143-44.
• Lee, Vernon, 'Imagination in Modern Art: Random Notes on Whistler, Sargent, and Besnard', Fortnightly Review, vol. 62, October 1897. pp. 513021, ar pp. 513-15.
• White, Gleeson, 'An Epoch-making House', Studio, vol. 12, New York, November 1897, p. 111 (International Studio, vol. 3, 1898, pp. 103-112).
• Prinsep, Val C., 'James A. McNeill Whistler 1834-1903. I. - Personal Recollections', The Magazine of Art, new series, vol. 1, old series, vol. 27, October 1903, pp. 557-80.
• Boughton, George Henry, 'A Few of the Various Whistlers I have known', The Studio, vol. 30, no. 129, December 1903, pp. 208-18; reprinted in The International Studio, vol. 21, January 1904, pp. 208-18, at p. 215.
• Graves, Algernon, 'James Abbott McNeill Whistler', Printseller and Print Collector, vol. 1, August 1903, pp. 341-45, pp. 341-43.
• Symons, Arthur, 'Whistler', The Weekly Critical Review: Devoted to Literature, Music and the Fine Arts, vol. 2, nos. 28-30, 30 July, 6 and 13 August 1903, pp. 36-37, 59-60 and 81-82.
• Spielmann, Marion H. (ed.), 'James A. McNeill Whistler: 1834-1903. The Man and the Artist', The Magazine of Art, vols. 1 and 2, new series, vols. 27 and 28, old series, October and November 1903, pp. 580-84.
• Dunn, M. Dudley, 'Art Notes: Whistler’s Famous Peacock Room', Madame, vol. 35, June 1904, pp. 706-07.
• MacColl, Dugald Sutherland, 'Whistlers Pfauenzimmer', Kunst und Künstler: Illustrierte Monatsschrift für Kunst und Kunstgewerbe, vol. 3, December 1904, pp. 112-14.
• Konody, P. G., 'Whistlers Pfauenzimmer', Kunst und Kunsthandwerk, vol. 7, 1904, pp. 385-91.

Monographs

• [Stubbs, Burns A.], The Whistler Peacock Room, Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, 1951.
• Hobbs, Susan, The Whistler Peacock Room, 4th edition, Washington, DC, 1980.
• Merrill, ‎Linda, Sarah Ridley, The Princess and the Peacocks Or, The Story of the Room, New York, 1993.
• Merrill, Linda, The Peacock Room. A Cultural Biography, New Haven and London, 1998.

Books on Whistler

• Anderson, Ronald, and Ann Koval, James McNeill Whistler: Beyond the Myth, London, 1994, pp. 206-09.
• Bendix, Deanna Marohn, Diabolical Designs: Paintings, Interiors, and Exhibitions of James McNeill Whistler, Washington and London, 1995, pp. 118-42.
• Berman, Avis, First Impressions: James McNeill Whistler, New York, 1993, pp. 59-64.
• Cary, Elizabeth Luther, The Works of James McNeill Whistler: A Study, with a Tentative List of Artist’s Works, New York, 1907, p. 227 (cat. no. 481).
• Curry, David Park, James McNeill Whistler: Uneasy Pieces, New York, 2004, pp. 14, 154-55.
• Duret, Théodore, Critique d'Avant-Garde, Paris, 1885, pp. 252-53.
• Duret, Théodore, Histoire de J. McN. Whistler et de son oeuvre, Paris, 1904, pp. 47-48.
• Eddy, Arthur Jerome, Recollections and Impressions of James A. McNeill Whistler, Philadelphia and London, 1903, pp. 128-31.
• Fleming, Gordon Howard, James Abbott McNeill Whistler: A Life, Gloucestershire, 1988. pp. 161-66.
• Laver, James, Whistler, London, 1930, pp. 160-161.
• Lawton, Thomas, Freer: a Legacy of Art, Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, 1993, pp. 179-81.
• MacDonald, Margaret F., Susan Galassi, Aileen Ribeiro, and Patricia de Montfort, Whistler, Women and Fashion, New Haven and London, 2003, pp. 96-97.
• McMullen, Roy, Victorian Outsider: a Biography of J. A. M. Whistler, London, 1974, pp. 169-181, 194, 253.
• Vaughan, William, 'A chance meeting of Whistler and Freud?…', in MacDonald, Margaret F., (ed.) Whistler's Mother: An American Icon, Aldershot and Burlington, 2003, pp. 101-19, at p. 107.
• Menpes, Mortimer, Whistler as I Knew Him, London, 1904, pp. 129-32.
• Merrill, Linda, A Pot of Paint: Aesthetics on Trial in 'Whistler v. Ruskin', Washington and London, 1992, p. 34, fig. 19.
• Merrill, Linda, With Kindest Regards. The Correspondence of Charles Lang Freer and James McNeill Whistler, 1890-1903, Washington, DC, and London, 1995, pp. 30, 42.
• Munhall, Edgar, Whistler and Montesquiou. The Butterfly and the Bat, New York, 1995, pp. 17, 21, repr.
• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Life of James McNeill Whistler, 2 vols, London and Philadelphia, 1908, vol. 1, pp. 202-09, repr. f.p. 204, drawings repr. f.p. 200.
• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Whistler Journal, Philadelphia, 1921, pp. 98, 100, 105-11, drawings repr. f. pp. 104, 105.
• Petri, Grischka, Arrangement in Business: The Art Markets and the Career of James McNeill Whistler, Hildesheim, 2011, pp. 215-25.
• Pocock, Tom, Chelsea Reach: the Brutal Friendship of Whistler and Walter Greaves, London, 1970, pp. 108-111.
• Sickert, Bernhard, Whistler, London and New York, 1908, pp. 135-36.
• Spalding, Frances, Whistler, Oxford and New York, 1979, pp. 52-60.
• Spencer, Robin (ed.), Whistler: A Retrospective, New York, 1989, p. 120.
• Sutherland, Daniel E., Whistler: A Life for Art's Sake, New Haven and London, 2014, pp. 139-41.
• Sutton, Denys, Nocturne: The Art of James McNeill Whistler, London, 1963, pp. 82-85, 93, 129, 138.
• Sutton, Denys, James McNeill Whistler: Paintings, Etchings, Pastels and Watercolours, London, 1966, pp. 26-29.
• Taylor, Hilary, James McNeill Whistler, London, 1978, pp. 86-90, 93, 95, 98, pl. 65, 66.
• Walker, John, James McNeill Whistler, New York, 1987, pp. 71-75.
• Way, Thomas Robert, and G. R. Dennis, The Art of James McNeill Whistler: An Appreciation, 1st edition, London, 1903, pp. 99-102.
• Way, Thomas Robert, Memories of James McNeill Whistler, the Artist, London and New York, 1912, pp. 4, 34-36.
• Weintraub, Stanley, Whistler: A Biography, London, 1974, pp. 169-81.

Books, General

• Lamont, L. M., (ed.), Thomas Armstrong, C. B.: A Memoir, London, 1912, pp. 206-08.
• Aslin, Elizabeth, The Aesthetic Movement: Prelude to Art Nouveau, London, 1969.
• Berger, Klaus, Japonisme in Western Painting from Whistler to Matisse, Cambridge, 1992 [first edition, Munich, 1980], pp. 34, 44-46, 248, figs. 28-29 [Munich, pp. 50-51, fig. 28, 29].
• Brown, Oliver, Exhibition: the Memoirs of Oliver Brown, London, 1968, p. 16.
• Crane, Walter, An Artist's Reminiscences, London, 1907, pp. 199-200.
• Crane, Walter, William Morris to Whistler: Papers and addresses on art and craft and the commonweal, London, 1911, pp. 267-69.
• Gaunt, William, The Aesthetic Adventure, London, 1945, p. 98.
• Gere, Charlotte, Nineteenth-Century Decoration: The Art of the Interior,New York, 1989, pp. 33, 169, 329, figs. 395-396.
• Hadley, Rollin van N. (ed.), Drawings, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, Boston, 1968, pp. 37-41, drawings repr. p. 41.
• Haweis, Hugh Reginald, Money and Morals: a Sermon Preached at St. James' Hall, London, February 18, 1977 by H. R. Haweis, Cornhill, London, 1877, pp. 7-8.
• Henderson, Helen W., The Art Treasures of Washington: An Account of the Corcoran Gallery of Art and of the National Gallery and Museum, with Descriptions and Criticisms of their Contents, Boston, 1912, p. 244.
• Jopling, Louise, Twenty Years of My Life, 1867 to 1887, London, 1925, p. 216.
• Lawton, Thomas, Freer: a Legacy of Art, Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, 1993, pp. 180-81, fig. 120.
• Montesquiou, Robert de, Les Pas effacés: Mémoires, 3 vols, Paris, 1923, pp. 254-55.
• Preston, Kerrison (ed.), Letters of W. Graham Robertson, London, 1953, pp. 362-63.
• Raby, Julian, Ideals of Beauty: Asian and American Art in the Freer and Sackler Galleries, London and Washington, 2010, pp. 22-25.
• Soros, Susan Weber, and Catherine Arbuthnott, Thomas Jeckyll: Architect and Designer, 1827-1881,, New York and New Haven, 2003, pp. 193-197.
• Spencer, Robin, The Aesthetic Movement, London and New York, 1972, repr. pp. 171-73.
• Tweedie, [Ethel Brilliana], Thirteen Years of a Busy Woman’s Life, London, 1912, pp. 169-70.
• Williamson, George Charles, Murray Marks and his Friends, London and New York, 1919, pp. 88-97.

Catalogues 1906-Present

COLLECTION:

• Curry, David Park, James McNeill Whistler, Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, 1984, chapter entitled 'Artist and Architect', pp. 53-69.
• 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 (04.61).
• [Stubbs, Burns A.], The Whistler Peacock Room, Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, 1951, pp. 1-18, repr. pp. 8, 12, 13, 15, 18.

EXHIBITION:

• Goupil Gallery, Catalogue of Oil Paintings, a Water Colour and Etchings, by Walter Greaves, Pupil of Whistler, London, [1911], p. 4 (not exhibited).
• Honeyman, Tom John, Whistler: Arrangements in Grey and Black, Glasgow Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow, 1951, p. 9 (not exhibited).
• Young, A. McLaren, James McNeill Whistler, Arts Council Gallery, London, and Knoedler Galleries, New York, 1960 (drawing, cat. no. 118).
• Sweet, Frederick A. (ed.), James McNeill Whistler, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, and Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, NY, 1968 (drawing, cat. no. 27).
• Spencer, Robin, James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903), Nationalgalerie, Berlin, 1969 (drawing, cat. no. 31).
• Reff, Theodore, and Allen Staley (eds), From Realism to Symbolism: Whistler and His World, Columbia University, New York, 1971 (cat. no. 25), drawings repr. pl. 64.
• MacDonald, Margaret F., Whistler: The Graphic Work: Amsterdam, Liverpool, London, Venice, Agnew's, London, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, and Glasgow Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow, 1976 (drawing, cat. no. 92).
• Burke, Doreen Bolger, et al., In Pursuit of Beauty: Americans and the Aesthetic Movement, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1986, pp. 122, 443 (not exhibited).
• ホイスラー展. Whistler Exhibition in Japan, Isetan Museum of Art, Tokyo; Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, Sapporo; Shizuoka Prefectural Museum, Shizuoka, 1986, p. 13 (not exhibited).
• Dorment, Richard, and Margaret F. MacDonald, James McNeill Whistler, Tate Gallery, London, Musée d’Orsay, Paris, and National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1994-1995, pp. 164-67 (not exhibited).
• Denker, Eric, In Pursuit of the Butterfly: Portraits of James McNeill Whistler, National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC, 1995, pp. 65-66, 68, fig. 3:7 (not exhibited).
• Mendgen, Eva, In Perfect Harmony - Picture + Frame 1850-1920, Amsterdam, 1995, pp. 91-93 (not exhibited).
• Merrill, Linda, et al., After Whistler: The Artist and His Influence on American Painting, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, 2003, pp. 108, 222 (not exhibited).
• Myers, Kenneth John, Mr. Whistler’s Gallery: Pictures at an 1884 Exhibition, Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 2003, p. 12, fig. 8.
• Andreeva, Galina, and Margaret F. MacDonald, Whistler and Russia, State Tretyakow Gallery, Moscow, 2006, pp. 32-33, repr. (not exhibited).
• Stoner, Joyce Hill, 'Materials for Immateriality', in Simpson, Marc, Like Breath on Glass: Whistler, Inness, and the Art of Painting Softly, Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, MA, 2008, pp. 91-109, at p. 96; (not exhibited).
• Calloway, Stephen, and Lynn Federle Orr (eds), The Cult of Beauty: The Aesthetic Movement 1860-1900, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2011 (image projected in exhibition).
• Glazer, Lee S., The Peacock Room Comes to America, Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, 2011 (published 2012).
• Ayako Ono, ホイッスラー展. James McNeill Whistler Retrospective, National Museum of Modern Art, Kyōto, 2014, and Yokohama Museum of Art, 2014–2015, pp. 157-64, repr. centrefold (not exhibited).
• Peacock Room REMIX: Darren Waterston's Filthy Lucre, Sackler Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, 2015-2017.
• Darren Waterston's Filthy Lucre, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2020.

SALE:

• Osborn & Mercer, The Mansion; formerly the residence of the late F. R. Leyland, Esq., sale catalogue, London, 17 June 1892, repr. f.p. 8.
• Obach & Co. [C. J. Holmes], The Peacock Room, exhibition catalogue, London, June 1904, repr.

Journals 1906-Present

• Mechlin, Leila, 'The Freer Collection of Art', Century Magazine, New York, vol. 73, January 1907, pp. 357-68, at pp. 358-359.
• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, 'Whistler as Decorator: With an Incidental Comparison of the Influence of Whistler and that of William Morris', Century Magazine, vol. 83, February 1912, pp. 500-513.
• Ionides, Luke, 'Memories: Whistler in the Quartier Latin', Transatlantic Review, vol. 1, January 1924, pp. 37-52, at pp. 47-48.
• Abbott, K. (ed.) and Whistler, Anna McNeill, 'The Lady of the Portrait, Letters of Whistler’s Mother', Atlantic Monthly, vol. 136, 1925, pp. 310-28, at pp. 327-28.
• Fell, Herbert Granville, 'Memories of Whistler, No. 1. - The Peacock Room', Connoisseur, vol. 95, 1935, pp. 21-24, No. 2, 'Patrons as Profiteers', pp. 74-76.
• Stubbs, Burns A., 'James McNeill Whistler: A Biographical Outline Illustrated from the Collections of the Freer Gallery of Art', Occasional Papers, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, 1950, vol. 1, no. 4pp. 16-17, pl. 10.
• Anon., 'Whistler Memento', Hobbies - The Magazine for Collectors, December 1950, pp. 44-45.
• Ferriday, Peter, 'The Peacock Room', Architectural Review, vol. 125, 1959, pp. 407-14.
• Sutton, Denys, 'Whistler et l'Extreme-Orient', Session: 'L'Europe et la Decouverte du Monde', Cahiers de Bordeaux: Journees Internationales d'Etudes d'Art, vols. 7-8, July 1960, pp. 87-94.
• Staley, Allen, 'The Condition of Music', Art News Annual, no. 33, 1967, pp. 80-87, at p. 85.
• Hobbs, Susan, 'A Connoisseur's Vision: The American Collection of Charles Lang Freer', American Art Review, vol. 4, August 1977, pp. 76-101. at p. 79.
• MacDonald, Margaret F., 'Whistler's Designs for a Catalogue of Blue and White Nankin Porcelain', Connoisseur, vol. 198, August 1975, pp. 290-95, repr. p. 295.
• Horowitz, Ira M., 'Whistler's Frames', The Art Journal, vol. 39, Winter 1979-80, pp. 124-31, fig. 5.
• Hobbs, Susan, 'Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art', Magazines Antiques, vol. 121, November 1981, pp. 1194-202, at pp. 1154, 1198-1199, pl. 8.
• Curry, David Park, 'Charles Lang Freer and American Art', Apollo, vol. 118, no. 258, August 1983, new series, pp. 168-79, pp. 168, 170, fig. 1.
• Curry, David Park, 'Whistler and Decoration', Antiques, vol. 126, no. 5, November 1984, pp. 1186-99, pl. 11.
• Winter, John, and Elisabeth West FitzHugh, 'Some Technical Notes on Whistler’s “Peacock Room” ', Studies in Conservation, vol. 30, 1985, pp. 149-54, fig. 1.
• Duval, M. Susan, 'F. R. Leyland: A Maecenas from Liverpool', Apollo, vol. 124, August 1986, pp. 110-15, at p. 115.
• Howard, Michael, The History and Techniques of the Great Masters: Whistler, New Jersey, 1989, p. 11.
• Macleod, Dianne Sachko, 'Art Collecting and Victorian Middle-Class Taste', Art History, 1987, vol. 10, pp. 328-50, at p. 342.
• Samet, Wendy, Joyce Hill Stoner, and Richard Wolbers, 'Approaching the Cleaning of Whistler’s Peacock Room: Retrieving Surface Interrelationships in “Harmony in Blue and Gold” ', Studies in Conservation, vol. 35, supp. 1, 1990, pp. 6-12.
• Savage, Kirk, ' “A forcible piece of weird decoration”: Whistler and the Gold Scab', Smithsonian Studies in American Art, vol. 4, Spring 1990, pp. 41-53.
• Baker, Kenneth, 'Polishing the Peacock Room', Architectural Digest (Los Angeles), vol. 50, March 1993, pp. 26-32.
• Merrill, Linda, 'Whistler’s Peacock Room Revisited', Magazine Antiques, New York, vol. 143, June 1993, pp. 894-901.
• Merrill, Linda, 'Whistler and the “Lange Lijzen” ', The Burlington Magazine, vol. 136, October 1994, pp. 683-90, figs. 30-31.
• Denker, Eric, 'Japanese prints and Western Art', Phillips Collection Quarterly, Washington DC, 2005.

Websites

• 'Harmony in Blue and Gold: The Peacock Room', Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, DC website at https://asia.si.edu/object/F1904.61.
• Google Art Project website at https://www.google.com.
• British History Online: Princes Gate and Princes Gardens, website at http://www.british-history.ac.uk.
• 'The Story of the Beautiful, Freer, Whistler, and their points of contact, Wayne University, 2013, website at http://www.peacockroom.wayne.edu.
• Filthy Lucre: Whistler's Peacock Room Reimagined, Victoria and Albert Museum website, 2020, at https://www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/filthy-lucre.

Unpublished

• Revillon, Joseph Whistler, Draft Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings of J. McN. Whistler, [ca 1945-1955], Glasgow University Library (cat. no. 488).

Other

• Becker, Eugene Matthew, Whistler and the Aesthetic Movement, Ph.D, Princeton University, 1959, p. 93, pl. 37.
• Goebel, Catherine Carter, Arrangement in Black and White: the Making of a Whistler Legend, PhD thesis, 2 vols, Evanston, Northwestern University, 1988, pp. 82-139, 837-62.
• Mills, Cynthia, Lee Glazer, and Amelia Goerlitz, East-West interchanges in American art: a long and tumultuous relationship, papers from the symposium, Smithsonian American art museum, Washington, DC, 2012.
• Spencer, Robin, 'Whistler and Japan: Work in Progress', in: Society for the Study of Japonisme (ed.), Japonisme in Art: An International Symposium, Tokyo, 1980, pp. 57-81, at pp. 71-72.
• Weber, Susan, 'Whistler as Collector, Interior Colorist and Decorator', MHPA Thesis, Cooper Hewitt Museum, New York, 1987, pp. 39-57.