The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

YMSM 203
Arrangement in Brown and Black: Portrait of Miss Rosa Corder

Arrangement in Brown and Black: Portrait of Miss Rosa Corder

Date: 1876/1878
Collection: Frick Collection, NY
Accession Number: 1914.1.134
Medium: oil
Support: canvas
Size: 192.4 x 92.4 cm (75 3/4 x 36 3/8")
Signature: none
Inscription: none
Frame: Flat Whistler, ca 1882 [17.2 cm]

Date

Arrangement in Brown and Black: Portrait of Miss Rosa Corder may have been started in 1876, but extant records of sittings date from 1878. 1

1876/1878: Many years later, Whistler said that the portrait was commissioned by Charles Augustus Howell (1840?-1890), London, for £100, and Howell had said he would arrange with the London print-sellers, H. Graves & Co., for an engraving of it to be published, from which Whistler expected further payment. 2

1878: Thomas Robert Way (1861-1913) wrote that he saw it in Whistler's house in May/June 1878. 3 On 1 September 1878 Whistler wrote to Rosa Frances Corder (1853-1893) asking her for a sitting next day,

'I want to thank you for your kind endurance - but will do this best by finishing the picture troublesome as it still may be - After all the work is complete and an hour or two longer or less will entirely end the matter - I am charmed myself and one of these days you will forgive me -

Perhaps if you were to come tomorrow at about 3. or half past -

I do hope you are not too worn out.' 4

The tenancy of Whistler's studio in 96 Cheyne Walk had been taken by Sydney Morse (1854-1929) but he let Whistler stay on to complete some paintings, probably including that of Rosa Corder. On 3 September Whistler wrote asking Morse for a little more time:

'My pictures are about finished thanks to your patience - and I will go out at once - though if you could still spare me the room for this week I should be so awfully obliged -

... One of my portraits has been very greatly hindered by absence - and I could I believe obtain another couple of sittings, on Friday and Saturday next.' 5

Howell had at some time suggested: 'Arrange also for completing Rosie's portrait now that you are slack & I will go on forking out various.' ('Various' means, in this case, money). 6 On 5 September Whistler wrote inviting Howell to the studio, explaining 'I have written to Miss Corder that she is to pose again tomorrow as upon reflection I feel that the picture ought to be finished right out of hand.' 7

Arrangement in Brown and Black: Portrait of Miss Rosa Corder, The Frick Collection
Arrangement in Brown and Black: Portrait of Miss Rosa Corder, The Frick Collection

Four days later Algernon Graves (1845-1922) asked Whistler to send 'the portrait of Miss Corder' from 96 Cheyne Walk to his premises at 6 Pall Mall. 8

Théodore Duret (1838-1927) thought it was painted at the same time as Arrangement in White and Black y185, which is not all that much help. 9

It was more or less completed in 1878, and by 1 January 1879, a subscription form had been prepared for a mezzotint engraving of the completed portrait by Richard Josey (1840-1906). 10

1903: According to the Pennells, Whistler took it to his studio for a few days after it was bought by Richard Albert Canfield (1855-1914), and washed it, 'for it was very dirty', worked on it, 'but very little', and had it varnished. 11

Images

Arrangement in Brown and Black: Portrait of Miss Rosa Corder, The Frick Collection
Arrangement in Brown and Black: Portrait of Miss Rosa Corder, The Frick Collection

Arrangement in Brown and Black: Portrait of Miss Rosa Corder, photograph, Goupil Album, 1892, GUL Whistler PH5/2
Arrangement in Brown and Black: Portrait of Miss Rosa Corder, photograph, Goupil Album, 1892, GUL Whistler PH5/2

F. Florian after Whistler's "Portrait of Miss Corder", Harper's New Monthly Magazine, 1889
F. Florian after Whistler's "Portrait of Miss Corder", Harper's New Monthly Magazine, 1889

Study of 'Arrangement in Brown and Black: Portrait of Miss Rosa Corder, Baltimore Museum of Art
Study of 'Arrangement in Brown and Black: Portrait of Miss Rosa Corder, Baltimore Museum of Art

Sketch of 'Arrangement in Brown and Black: Portrait of Miss Rosa Corder, British Museum
Sketch of 'Arrangement in Brown and Black: Portrait of Miss Rosa Corder, British Museum

Sketch after the portrait of Rosa Corder, Art Institute of Chicago
Sketch after the portrait of Rosa Corder, Art Institute of Chicago

Arrangement of paintings at the ISSPG, Library of Congress
Arrangement of paintings at the ISSPG, Library of Congress

Arrangement of paintings at the ISSPG, Library of Congress
Arrangement of paintings at the ISSPG, Library of Congress

Whistler Memorial Exhibition, Boston, 1904, photograph, GUL Whistler PH6/21
Whistler Memorial Exhibition, Boston, 1904, photograph, GUL Whistler PH6/21

Rosa Corder, photograph, private collection
Rosa Corder, photograph, private collection

Subject

Titles

Several possible titles have been suggested:

Although in 1884 Whistler called this painting the fifth in his sequence of 'Arrangements in Black', he also gave that title to a portrait of Lady Archibald Campbell in 1885 (Arrangement in Black: La Dame au brodequin jaune - Portrait of Lady Archibald Campbell y242), and confused matters further by later exhibiting them both as 'Arrangement in Black, No. 7' (see also Arrangement in Black: Portrait of F. R. Leyland y097). In 1892 he reverted to the original title of 'Brown and Black', which is now usually accepted. 'Arrangement in Brown and Black: Portrait of Miss Rosa Corder' is thus the preferred title.

Description

Arrangement in Brown and Black: Portrait of Miss Rosa Corder, Frick Collection
Arrangement in Brown and Black: Portrait of Miss Rosa Corder, Frick Collection

A full length portrait of a woman, in vertical format. She stands in profile to right, against a black background. Her dark brown hair is gathered up in heavy rolls around the back of her head. She is dressed in a black riding habit, with her right hand, in a grey glove, holding a wide-brimmed hat with a sweeping feather.

Sitter

Rosa Corder, photograph, private collection
Rosa Corder, photograph, private collection

Rosa Frances Corder (1853-1893) was a pupil of Felix Moscheles, and Whistler taught her etching.

She was the mistress of Charles Augustus Howell (1840?-1890), and from him she learned to make copies of eighteenth-century portraits and, apparently, of pornographic drawings by Fuseli, and possibly of drawings by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882) and Whistler. 27

A drypoint of her by Mortimer Luddington Menpes (1860-1938) was given by Howell to the British Museum in 1880. 28

She painted horses and people, and her sitters included Algernon Graves (1845-1922) in 1878, and Frederick Richards Leyland (1832-1892) in 1882. 29

Comments

Walford Graham Robertson (1867-1948) described Rosa Corder: 'Her hair was a curious pale brown ... and she was gentle and crushed-looking ... the Whistler picture ... makes her proud and stately.' 30

A detailed discussion of the portrait, 'Rosa Corder: The Artist as Model', by Susan Grace Galassi, appeared in the book Whistler, Women and Fashion, accompanying an exhibition at the Frick in 2003: 31

'In Arrangement in Brown and Black: Miss Rosa Corder, the subject stands with her back to the viewer in a dark atmospheric space ... Soft light focuses attention on her pale face turned in pure profile to reveal her straight nose, full lips, and strong chin. She looks to the right with an air of gravity. Her long brown hair is wound into two coils high on the back of her head in the fashion of the time ... It is difficult at first to detach her from the shadowy surroundings. Except for the white collar of her blouse and … white along the edge of her open jacket, her figure is set off from the background by only subtle differences in tone and the curved shapes and texture of her fur-trimmed jacket and sweeping skirt. But the allure of a beautiful and stylish young woman “almost drowning in darkness,” in the words of one observer, draws the viewer in. 32 Rosa’s vigorous contrapposto stance, the angle of her uptilted head, and the dynamic lines of her attire convey a sense of vitality and self-possession, while the gesture of her left arm, bent at the elbow with her hand resting on her hip, contributes a note of assertiveness.

The portrait forms part of Whistler's ongoing series of some twenty black paintings ... inspired in part by both Velázquez's dark portraits of members of the royal family as well as monochromatic Chinese painting. In his black portraits, Whistler pushed forward his search for greater purity of design and deeper connection with the inner spirit of his sitter.

The portrait of Rosa Corder has long been regarded as one of the artist's finest achievements. For the painter Sir William Rothenstein, it was “a triumph of unaffected ease.” Other commentators remarked on the serenity of the sitter: “It is one of the most noble feminine figures that one could encounter ... the model, serious, almost grave, displays a quiet authority, a mild serenity." 33 … Graham Robertson, who owned the portrait for a period and came to know the sitter as well, described her as a person of “beautiful stillness.” ...

Rosa later recounted to Robertson that she had “posed for it … some forty times, standing in a doorway with the darkness of a shuttered room beyond her; long sittings, lasting on two occasions until she fainted, and at last she had refused to go on with them.” An artist herself, commented Robertson, she could see the painting was finished “and struck for freedom.”

The Costume

According to the Pennells, Whistler is said to have arrived at the color scheme for the portrait of Rosa Corder when he saw her pass by one of the black doors of his studio in a brown suit. (In the painting, however, the suit is black, while the hat provides the note of brown.) In choosing to depict Rosa in up-to-date street wear, Whistler selected an identity for her as a modern urban woman, one of a new breed – among them artists – who were making their own way in the working world.

It has been said that Rosa posed in riding habit, which her suit closely resembles and would seem appropriate for her, given her involvement with horses. ...

The habit was ... enhanced by the provocative combination of aspects of male and female dress. Masculine tailoring, durable fabrics, and accessories adapted from men's wear, such as the top hat, are set off in the short, form-fitting jacket and long uncrinolined skirt of female riding attire, which reveal the natural lines of the body. ...

A woman in riding habit exuded vitality and boldness – she appeared stylish, yet remained outside the realm of fashion per se. Indeed, riding habit was traditionally made by male tailors ... Baudelaire, in his essay "The Painter of Modern Life," and Hippolyte Taine in his Notes sur l'Angleterre, praised the elegance of women en tenue amazone. Women in riding clothes appeared in the work of Manet, Degas, and Courbet. ...

The sleek black riding habit consists of a short, form-fitting jacket, pulled in at the waist and molded over hips, and a skirt which is flat in front, and gathered in simple pleats at the back of the waist, falling freely to the ground. A small, round hat trimmed with a feather completes the attire. ... the fabric of her suit appears to be one of the new lighter, supple wools used for women’s tailor-made suits, and it is trimmed with fur. ...

Rosa’s costume also has elements in common with fashionable outdoor wear of the period … The streak of white at the edge of Rosa’s open jacket suggests that it too may be lined with white fur, though it could also be the frill of a white blouse worn underneath. The walking suit’s skirt is trimmed with fur as well, and the fabric is tied back and caught up in a bustle below the hem of the jacket, terminating in a ruffled train of a darker color. Rosa's skirt, although simpler, also appears to be tied back in a low bustle beneath the edge of her jacket, and ends in a train.

... Unlike the more structured ensembles of high fashion with their padded jackets and long, narrow trailing skirts, Rosa’s attire allowed for comfort and freedom of movement, yet it retained elements of the purely fashionable, such as the train … [The] large, round feathered hat provides another focal point in the composition ... The warm brown of the hat echoes the color of her hair, while it repeats in a tighter curvilinear form the swirl of fabric around her feet. … Such hats appear frequently in portraits by Gainsborough, as, for instance, in A Morning Walk. ...

As an artist herself, Rosa would have been highly conscious of her image and worked with Whistler to create an aesthetic arrangement of shape and tone in which she appears both fashionable and modern, in a style that reflects the milieu in which she lived and worked. …

Rosa in her fur-trimmed black jacket and long, flowing skirt appears to be suspended between the fashionable wear of the dressmaker and the severity of the new tailor-made attire, just as the subject herself slipped between classes, between amateurism and professionalism, and between respectability and a more shadowy existence.' 34

Technique

Composition

Arrangement in Brown and Black: Portrait of Miss Rosa Corder, Frick Collection
Arrangement in Brown and Black: Portrait of Miss Rosa Corder, Frick Collection

According to Jacques Émile Blanche (1861-1942), Whistler got the idea of the colour scheme from seeing Rosa Corder in a brown dress pass a black door. 35

Study of 'Arrangement in Brown and Black: Portrait of Miss Rosa Corder, Baltimore Museum of Art
Study of 'Arrangement in Brown and Black: Portrait of Miss Rosa Corder, Baltimore Museum of Art

Sketch of 'Arrangement in Brown and Black: Portrait of Miss Rosa Corder, British Museum
Sketch of 'Arrangement in Brown and Black: Portrait of Miss Rosa Corder, British Museum

Sketch after the portrait of Rosa Corder, Art Institute of Chicago
Sketch after the portrait of Rosa Corder, Art Institute of Chicago

There are three drawings of Rosa Corder by Whistler, Study of 'Arrangement in Brown and Black: Miss Rosa Corder' m0713, Sketch of 'Arrangement in Brown and Black: Portrait of Miss Rosa Corder' m0714 and Sketch after the portrait of Rosa Corder m0715.

A pencil drawing in the Lucas Collection, Baltimore, shows the skirt hanging almost straight down, the hem curving gently to right.

A pen and wash sketch in the British Museum is similar to the painting except that Corder's head and shoulders are turned a little further away from the spectator, and the skirt trails out to left. Another pen and wash drawing, signed with a butterfly that can be dated about 1883, is in the Art Institute of Chicago and shows the hem of the skirt sweeping out on both sides, yet giving the impression of movement, as if the figure is turning to right. The drawings accentuate the sweeping curves of Rosa's dress and hat. Both of these were probably done after the oil painting.

Technique

Arrangement in Brown and Black: Portrait of Miss Rosa Corder , The Frick Collection
Arrangement in Brown and Black: Portrait of Miss Rosa Corder , The Frick Collection

Arrangement in Brown and Black: Portrait of Miss Rosa Corder is painted on coarse, slubby canvas. It is, for Whistler, painted quite thickly. The face is highly finished, the hair painted more freely.

Rosa Corder told Graham Robertson she posed 'standing in a doorway with the darkness of a shuttered room beyond her' and she gave about forty 'long sittings, lasting on occasions until she fainted, and at last she refused to go on with them.' 36 Hence some areas, such as the hem of the dress, and the meeting of wall and floor, appear unfinished.

Conservation History

The canvas is lined. It was washed by Whistler – or rather under his supervision – in 1903, which, said the Pennells, 'makes all the difference in the colour, for it was very dirty.' 37 However, Whistler complained to William Stephen Marchant (1868-1925) of Goupil's that their picture restorer, Edwin William Izod (1872-1896) of Izod & Co., Great Portland Street, had not looked after the painting personally and there was some bloom under the varnish. 38

The Frick Collection conservation records note that by 1923 it was already lined, with the edges trimmed, and that bloom and surface dirt were removed; in 1935 the surface was cleaned 1937; there were problems with bloom, which was removed by George L Stour in 1937, but reappeared by 1941. William Suhr removed varnish and applied Talens retouching varnish in 1965, and the painting was cleaned 1970-1972 and again in 1980. It remains a little darkened. Dr Joyce H. Townsend, Tate Britain conservator, noted in 2017 that, in places, the paint had sunk in, and that the picture had an uneven gloss: also that there was some small-scale surface cracking, which suggests megilp or natural resin was used in the paint.

Frame

1879: In March 1879 Whistler urgently ordered a 'large frame' from Henry John Murcott (1835-1910), picture framer, carver and gilder: ' ... can you knock me up a large frame in 10 days - for the Grosvenor? - no matter how roughly - always the same pattern - if so let your man come tomorrow morning by 10 o'clock - and take the measure.' 39 This was either for Arrangement in Brown and Black: Portrait of Miss Rosa Corder y203 or Harmony in Yellow and Gold: The Gold Girl - Connie Gilchrist y190.

ca 1882: The current Flat Whistler frame has an autograph handwritten label on the verso reading ‘Pink Picture – J Whistler – 13. Tite Street - Chelsea’. Whistler took that studio on 22 March 1881, moved in later that year, and started to paint Harmony in Pink and Grey: Portrait of Lady Meux y229, which was first exhibited in 1882. The label suggests that at a later date the frames of Arrangement in Brown and Black: Portrait of Miss Rosa Corder y203 and Harmony in Pink and Grey: Portrait of Lady Meux y229 were switched. This could have been when both were shown in the 1892 Goupil exhibition. 40

Whistler Memorial Exhibition, Boston, 1904, photograph, GUL Whistler PH6/21
Whistler Memorial Exhibition, Boston, 1904, photograph, GUL Whistler PH6/21

Other labels on the verso confirm that the current frame was on the picture by 1902. The photograph above shows it framed, on exhibition in Boston in 1904.

History

Provenance

C. A. Howell recorded in his diary, on 9 September 1878, that he paid 100 guineas for this painting. However, according to Whistler, when it was half completed, Howell gave him an advance of £70.0.0 out of money advanced by Henry Graves (1806-1892) on a proposed portrait of Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881). This was to be painted by Whistler and published by Graves as an engraving. 41 And, just to complicate matters further, on another occasion the artist stated that Howell had paid him out of money Whistler had just lent him. 42

The actual documents tell a slightly different story. On 9 September 1878 Howell acknowledged receipt of an 'advance' from H. Graves & Co. of £100 at 10 percent, on security of two nocturnes and Arrangement in Grey and Black: Portrait of the Painter's Mother y101. 43 Since Howell at no time owned the portrait of Whistler's mother, this transaction was probably carried out on Whistler's behalf. In any case, on 6 November Howell wrote asking Graves to accept 'my portrait of Miss Corder ... in lieu of the two nocturnes.' 44

On 1 May 1879 Whistler handed over his copyright to Howell. 45 Howell arranged for the portrait to be engraved in mezzotint by Richard Josey (1840-1906) and published through Messrs Graves. A subscription form was prepared: prices were £3. 3. 0 for a signed artist's proof, £2.2.0 for a lettered proof and one guinea for a print. 46 The mezzotint was completed and exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1880. Whistler received the completed engraving when he was in Venice, and was a little disappointed with its quality, saying 'It is fine - but scarcely as rich as I expected - The head is rather hard - could Josie soften it a little by burnishing slightly the modelling and doing away ever so little with the lines?' 47

The artist Jacques Émile Blanche (1861-1942) recorded that he had seen the painting in Whistler's Tite Street studio in 1884. 48 Arrangement in Brown and Black: Portrait of Miss Rosa Corder y203 alternated with Arrangement in Grey and Black: Portrait of the Painter's Mother y101 as security for loans, on deposit with H. Graves & Co. in 1885. 49

F. Florian after Whistler's "Portrait of Miss Corder", Harper's New Monthly Magazine, 1889
F. Florian after Whistler's "Portrait of Miss Corder", Harper's New Monthly Magazine, 1889

In December 1888 Whistler introduced Theodore Child (1846-1892) to Henry Graves; shortly afterwards, Child offered Graves £10 to let him reproduce the portrait in Harper's New Monthly Magazine, the sum to be set against the £400 Whistler owed to Graves. 50 The portrait was then sent to Paris and engraved by Frédéric Florian (1858-1926), and reproduced in Harper's New Monthly Magazine in the following year. 51 Whistler was delighted with the result. He wrote, 'It is simply charming - Do say so from me with my most sincere thanks & compliments to Monsieur - for the life of me I cannot at this moment remember his name! - dont tell him that!' and Child assured him, 'The engraver of Miss Corder is Florian, an enthusiastic admirer of your genius.' 52

According to the Pennells, after Howell's death in 1890, Henry Graves (1806-1892) thought the painting would fetch no more than £10.0.0 at auction, but in the event it fetched more than enough to cancel Howell's debt. 53 Graham Robertson bought the painting itself at the Howell sale at Christie's on 13 November 1890. Whistler promptly asked to see it, and meet 'the collector who so far ventures to brave popular prejudice in this country.' 54 A few days later Whistler visited, dusted it and had it varnished, but Robertson refused to have it cleaned. 55

Graves, who had apparently acquired the copyright from Howell, bought the mezzotint plate from Howell's executrix, Alice Mary Chambers (1854-1920), and was selling prints in the 1890s. 56

By February 1903, Robertson was being pestered by the American gambler Richard A. Canfield to sell the portrait, as he told Whistler:

'Continued dropping wears away a stone - & your Mr Canfield has been dropping so many vigorous hints to the effect that he longs to possess 'Rosa Corder' that I am worn to a shadow. He should not have taken her except over my dead body, were it not that I am now so seldom in London that I very rarely see the lady myself.

I have sometimes felt lately that she does not now enjoy the social advantages to which she is accustomed & wondered whether she ought to be left so much to herself.

I know that the picture is a favourite one with you & should like to feel that - if the exchange is effected - it had your approval.' 57

Whistler approved, saying that 'the "Rosa" could not possibly be in better hands, nor in more perfect care than that of Mr. Richard Canfield.' 58 So the sale went through. According to the Pennells (who described Canfield as 'gambler and Harvard graduate, who spent his time between quoting Horace, cleaning out young millionaires, and patronizing painters with the proceeds'), Robertson refused Canfield's first offer of £1000, but accepted £2000; ' "Damned fool!" Canfield added, "I would have offered five thousand and jumped at the chance of getting it for that." ' 59 Whistler told Canfield, 'The Rosa looks very fine', and finally, the portrait was sent to America. 60

Arrangement in Brown and Black: Portrait of Miss Rosa Corder, The Frick Collection
Arrangement in Brown and Black: Portrait of Miss Rosa Corder, The Frick Collection

It was bought from Canfield by Knoedler's on 12 March 1914 (#13427) and sold by them to H. C. Frick, who bequeathed it to the Frick Collection.

Exhibitions

1879: The generally favourable reaction of the press to this painting was reflected in the selection of reviews published by Graves in his pamphlet publicising Josey's engraving of the portrait in 1879. 61 Even Punch was 'Glad to say a word for Whistler', if only 'Better than usual.' 62 The Globe, although unappreciative of Whistler's 'fantastic titles', thought 'the large masses of sombre colour are most artistically arranged, and the general effect is remarkably rich and harmonious.' 63 The London Evening Standard on 1 May 1879 commented that 'Mr. J. M. Whistler has two figure subjects quite worthy of attention. Distinction and character are in the seemingly sketchy portrait, very large and very dark, of a graceful artist, Miss Rosa Corder'. The World of 7 May 1879 saw in it 'broad grand passages of execution worthy of Velasquez', which suggests that some of the treatment of her dress and hat may have been clearer a century ago than it is now. However, another art critic, in the Morning Post of 1 May, could not distinguish the figure 'from the mass of dark that encompasses it.'

1884: When it was sent for exhibition in Brussels in 1884 Whistler told Charles William Deschamps (1848-1908) that it was to be insured for £1000, amended later to £100, and added, 'I should like to know from you in what state they were before they left - I mean if they were well rubbed up and polished etc.' 64 Whistler later wrote asking the art critic and collector, Théodore Duret (1838-1927), to arrange to return the painting through the art firm of Durand-Ruel in Paris for exhibition in London. 65

According to the newspapers, an 'Arrangement in brown and black' was on exhibition at the Crystal Palace in 1884, and on 21 April the London Evening Standard commended the 'portrait of Miss Corder … arrangement of the lady in black and brown … strongly reminiscent of the great Spanish master whom he delights to honour', by whom, of course, they meant Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velázquez (1599-1660). The Glasgow Herald on 23 April commented that there did not seem to be a coherent catalogue but that 'Mr. Whistler's admirable study in black-browns, "Portrait of Miss Corder," was already advantageously hung.' 66

1888: The publication of the translation of Whistler's Ten o'clock Lecture by Stéphane Mallarmé (1842-1898) – Le 'Ten O'Clock' de M. Whistler – was planned to coincide with the Exposition at Durand-Ruel's. 67

The painting was one of two which, after the end of the exhibition, were engraved with the permission of Paul Durand-Ruel (1831-1925) for an article by Theodore Child (1846-1892) in Harper’s New Monthly Magazine before returning being returned to Whistler. 68

1889: Press cuttings show it was exhibited in Whistler's one-man exhibition at the College for Men and Women, London, in 1889, which had no catalogue. 69

1891: Alfred Émile-Léopold Stevens (1823-1906) wrote to Whistler after visiting the Paris exhibition, 'votre portrait de femme exposé au Champ de Mars est pour moi le chef d'oeuvre de l'exposition.' 70 Theodore Duret, however, was disappointed not to see Whistler's more recent work. 71 Whistler privately admitted doubts: 'The Rosa Corder naturally is very austere and grand ... but we have better - and Oh horrors it struck me suddenly that she looked short!' 72 However, he told the owner, Robertson, that Adolf Paulus (1851-1924) was 'wildly enamoured' of the painting and wished to borrow it for exhibition in Munich: Whistler offered Robertson two paintings as potential temporary replacements. 73 According to Robertson, Whistler lent Arrangement in Black: La Dame au brodequin jaune - Portrait of Lady Archibald Campbell y242 to him 'for almost a year ... while Rosa Corder was away being exhibited.' 74 And so, the portrait of Rosa Corder travelled on from Paris to Munich. 75

1892: And no sooner was it returned than Whistler wanted to borrow it for his major retrospective show at the Goupil Gallery, 'He would I think [lend] for such a particular occasion, especially as he would have it back befor[e] the season really begins', he told D. C. Thomson, and indeed, Robertson again agreed. 76

Arrangement in Brown and Black: Portrait of Miss Rosa Corder , photograph, Goupil Album, 1892, GUL Whistler PH5/2
Arrangement in Brown and Black: Portrait of Miss Rosa Corder , photograph, Goupil Album, 1892, GUL Whistler PH5/2

Whistler published a selection of earlier adverse reviews in his Goupil catalogue in 1892, including a comparison of the portraits of Rosa Corder and Henry Irving (Arrangement in Black, No. 3: Sir Henry Irving as Philip II of Spain y187): 'two large blotches of dark canvas. When I have time I am going again to find out which is Rose and which is Irving.' 77

D. C. Thomson described the exhibition to Whistler's wife, Beatrice Philip (Mrs E. W. Godwin, Mrs J. McN. Whistler) (1857-1896):

'Both our large rooms are filled with the pictures & the effect is magnificent. The three large portraits (Rosa Corder, Lady A. Campbell & the Fur Jacket) hang on our wall & they dwell in ones mind like the grand orchestral tones of a fine oratorio. They are magistral in every way, & their harmonies march along like heroes returning from victory.' 78

It was selected from the Goupil exhibits for reproduction in an album of photographs, even though a royalty would have to be paid to H. Graves & Co., but Whistler was critical of the resulting photograph, which, he thought, 'ought to give a much finer and lighter result.' 79

Although Robertson was permitted to retain his picture briefly, Whistler already had plans for future exhibits. He suggested it for the World's Columbian Exposition, Department of Fine Arts, Chicago, 1893, but no loan materialised. 80

1894: Instead, Whistler begged Robertson to send it to Antwerp:

'I quite admited [sic] all that you said about the Chicago business.

But this is for Antwerp - There is to be, as I daresay you know, a great International affair there this May - and I have been specially invited - and I would, of all things, so much like to be represented by the Rosa Corder & your Pacific.

They would make a splendid show for both of us! - and you should be at peace afterwards for ages - I promise you.' 81

Although hung successfully it was made 'Hors Concours' (withdrawn from competition) in Antwerp because only exhibits painted after 1885 qualified for judging. 82

1897: Whistler wrote 'I almost venture to believe that I am in the position of one who has not troubled you for a long time!' and he begged Robertson to lend the portrait to an international exhibition in Copenhagen. 83 Robertson was really extraordinarily obliging! The portrait went both to Copenhagen in 1897 and to the International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers in London in 1898.

Arrangement of paintings at the ISSPG, Library of Congress
Arrangement of paintings at the ISSPG, Library of Congress

Arrangement of paintings at the ISSPG, Library of Congress
Arrangement of paintings at the ISSPG, Library of Congress

1898: As President of the ISSPG, Whistler demanded care in the hanging of his works, sketching Arrangement of paintings at the ISSPG m1539 for Albert Ludovici, Jr (1852-1932), and insisting 'So if I send my portrait you will put it between the Rosa Corder and the Princess - leaving nice margin - and keeping all on line, more than in sketch' and following up with another sketch, Arrangement of paintings at the ISSPG m1540, and further instructions.

'1. Rose Corder. 2. Princess. 3. Portrait. 4. Piano. 5. Oval. 6. Thames in ice. 7. Philosopher. 8. Nocturne Valparaiso. 9. Petite Souris (girls head with feather boa) 10. "Etchings by Mrs McNeill Whistler".

Or ... 2 10 7. 8 9. Yes this * last way I prefer - and it gives you no trouble - ... Hang all my pictures on the line - excepting the Holloway (Philosopher) just a tiny bit up to make the line pretty - and perhaps the Petite Souris - also slightly - a matter for your eye - And be sure to see to the proper tilting over - so that can be well seen ...

Hang nothing under any of the pictures.' 84

Whistler's idea of 'no trouble' was probably not shared by his followers! However, this second set of instructions was followed, judging by a photograph of the exhibition. 85 A review of the show, possibly reflecting input from the artist, by George Sauter (1866-1937) described the portrait of Rosa Corder:

'In Whistler this occupation with the science of his art is so complete that no thought of other influence were possible, and none but his own intense personality could suffice to carry him through to his results ... The values, the quality, the selection, the reality, the arrangement, make these pictures so beautiful. What is quality? you may ask. You will never learn it in a school or from books, but only by reading in the endless volume of Nature by day and night.' 86

A photograph of the painting, probably taken by Carl Hentschel (1864-1930), was approved by Whistler as suitable for reproduction, probably for the Art Journal, though Whistler stipulated in a letter to William Heinemann (1863-1920), 'I have a horror of all blue and violet and green reproduction. Let them all be of a certain warm brown to black.' 87

1899: A few months later Robertson rejected a request from Sergei Diaghilev (1872-1929) to lend the portrait of Rosa Corder to the 1st World of Art Exhibition, in Saint Petersburg, because, as Robertson explained, 'Miss Corder was away all last summer at the International and she is so pleased to get home & rest & we are all so comfortable together.' 88 But instead, he agreed to lend it to the international exhibition in Venice! 89

Whistler Memorial Exhibition, Boston, 1904, photograph, GUL Whistler PH6/21
Whistler Memorial Exhibition, Boston, 1904, photograph, GUL Whistler PH6/21

1904: A photograph of the Boston 1904 exhibition shows it in a prominent position.

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Notes:

1: YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 203). Whistler's biographers, the Pennells, imply that it was started in 1876: Pennell 1908 [more], vol. 1, pp. 201-22.

2: Whistler, 26 June 1900, quoted in Pennell 1921C [more], pp. 60-61, 70, 276-80.

3: Way 1912 [more], pp. 13, 25.

4: [1 September 1878], GUW #10040.

5: [3 September 1878], GUW #10875.

6: GUW #02176.

7: [5 September 1878], GUW #02790.

8: 9 September 1878, GUW #01797.

9: Duret 1904 [more], p. 37.

10: Subscription form for mezzotint, proof, 1 January 1879, GUW #08868; final version of circular, 7/31 August 1879, in GUL MS Whistler LB 11/71, GUW #11682.

11: Pennell 1921C [more], p. 279.

12: Proof of subscription form for mezzotint, 1 January 1879, GUW #08868.

13: III Summer Exhibition, Grosvenor Gallery, London, 1879 (cat. no. 54).

14: Exposition Internationale de Peinture, Galerie George Petit, Paris, 1883 (cat. no. 1).

15: Exposition internationale de peinture et de sculpture, Société des XX, Brussels, 1884 (cat. no. 1).

16: International and Universal Exhibition, Crystal Palace, London, 1884.

17: Exposition Brown, Boudin, Caillebotte, Lepine, Morisot, Pissarro, Renoir, Sisley, Whistler, Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris, 1888 (cat. no. 41).

18: Christie's, London, 13 November 1890 (lot 545).

19: 1st exhibition, Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Champs de Mars, Paris, 1891 (cat. no. 936).

20: Nocturnes, Marines & Chevalet Pieces, Goupil Gallery, London, 1892 (cat. no. 22).

21: Den Internationale Kunstudstilling i København, Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen, 1897 (cat. no. 199).

22: Exhibition of International Art, International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers, Knightsbridge, London, 1898 (cat. no. 178).

23: 32nd Autumn Exhibition of Pictures, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, 1902 (cat. no. 1013).

24: Oil Paintings, Water Colors, Pastels and Drawings: Memorial Exhibition of the Works of Mr. J. McNeill Whistler, Copley Society, Boston, 1904 (cat. no. 25).

25: Œuvres de James McNeill Whistler, Palais de l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1905 (cat. no. 21).

26: YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 203).

27: See for instance, Jones, Mark, Paul Craddock, and Nicholas Barker (eds), Fake? The Art of Deception, University of California Press, 1990.

28: British Museum, 1880, 0214.351.

29: Galassi, Susan Grace, 'The Artist as Model: Rosa Corder', in MacDonald 2003 [more], pp. 116-31.

30: Letter dated 5 November 1922, quoted by Preston 1953 [more], pp. 95, 368.

31: Galassi 2003, op. cit., pp. 119-31.

32: 'presque noyée des ténèbres', Siècle, 14 May 1891, GUL Whistler PC 11/43; Galassi 2003, op. cit., at p. 119.

33: Galassi, ibid. The quotation is a translation of 'C’est une des plus nobles figures féminines qu’on puisse rencontrer … le modèle, sérieux, jusqu’à la gravité, se manifeste avec une autorité calme, une sérénite pleine de douceur.' L'Echo de la Semaine, 24 May 1891; GUL Whistler PC11/47.

34: Galassi 2003, op. cit.

35: Quoted by Pennell 1908 [more], vol. 1, p. 202.

36: W. G. Robertson 1931 A [more], pp. 188-91, 194-95.

37: Pennell 1921C [more], p. 279.

38: Whistler to Canfield, [20 February 1903], GUW #09008; Whistler to W. Marchant, 22 February 1903, GUW #03054; see Simon, Jacob, British picture restorers, 1600-1950, National Portrait Gallery website at http://www.npg.org.uk.

39: [31 March 1879], GUW #04233.

40: Dr Sarah L. Parkerson Day, Report on frames, 2017. See also Parkerson 2007 [more].

41: Pennell 1908 [more], vol. 1, p. 228; Pennell 1921C [more], pp. 60-61.

42: W. G. Robertson 1931 A [more], pp. 188-91, 194-95.

43: Howell to A. Graves, GUW #02184.

44: GUW #02185.

45: GUW #02835.

46: Subscription form for mezzotint, proof, 1 January 1879, GUW #08868; final version of circular, 7/31 August 1879, in GUL MS Whistler LB 11/71, GUW #11682.

47: Whistler to Howell, 26 January 1880, GUW #02860.

48: Blanche 1905 [more], p. 358.

49: H. Ribbing to Whistler, 14 January 1885, GUW #01819.

50: Whistler to Graves, [1 December 1888], Child to Whistler, 2 and 11 December 1888, and 24 February 1889, GUW #10921, #00698, #00618, #00619, and #00620.

51: Child 1889a [more], repr. at p. 493.

52: Whistler to Child, [1/2 March 1889], GUW #09270, and reply, 3 March 1889, GUW #00621.

53: Pennell 1908 [more], vol. 1, pp. 296-97.

54: [16/22 November 1890], GUW #09410.

55: Letter of 16 February 1937, quoted by Preston 1953 [more], pp. 95, 368.

56: T. R. Way to B. Whistler, 17 January 1892, GUW #06092.

57: [1/8 February 1903], GUW #05202.

58: Whistler to Canfield, [10 February 1903], GUW #03057.

59: Pennell 1921, op. cit., pp. 235, 279.

60: Whistler to Canfield, [20 February 1903], GUW #09008, and [28 February 1903], GUW #03048; Whistler to J. Pennell, [28 February 1903], GUW #07768; Pennell 1921, op. cit.

61: Proof, 1 January 1879, GUW #08868; final version of circular, 7/31 August 1879, in GUL MS Whistler LB 11/71, GUW #11682.

62: Anon., 'The Gay Grosvenor Gallery Guide', Punch, 21 June 1879, pp. 285-87, at pp. 285-86.

63: The Globe, London, 1 May 1879.

64: Whistler to Deschamps, [8, 11 and 29 January 1884], GUW #07908, #07909, #07913.

65: [May 1884], GUW #09641.

66: Catalogue untraced; see also Manchester Guardian, 22 May 1884, press cutting in GUL Whistler PC 6, p. 52.

67: Mallarmé to Whistler, [7 or 13] May 1888, GUW #13435.

68: Durand-Ruel to Whistler, 25 July 1888, GUW #00981; see Child 1889a [more], at p. 493.

69: Evening News, London, press cutting in GUL Whistler PC 10, p. 91.

70: 21 May 1891, GUW #05586.

71: Duret to Whistler, 15 May 1891, GUW #00986.

72: J. Whistler to B. Whistler, [11 June 1891], GUW #06591.

73: [May/June 1891], GUW #09382.

74: Letter of 16 February 1937; quoted by Preston 1953 [more], pp. 95, 368.

75: H. E. Moulun to Whistler, 25 July 1891, GUW #00983.

76: Whistler to D. C. Thomson, [20 February 1892], GUW #08219; and reply, 23 February 1892, GUW #05686.

77: Nocturnes, Marines & Chevalet Pieces, Goupil Gallery, London, 1892 (cat. no. 22).

78: 19 March 1892, GUW #05705.

79: D. C. Thomson to Whistler, 7 April 1892, GUW #05717; Whistler to Thomson, 2 May 1892, GUW #08205.

80: Whistler to E. G. Kennedy, [20 October/10 November 1892], GUW #09699 and #09700; Whistler to E. A. Abbey, [November 1892 / 10 January 1893], GUW #03181.

81: 14 March [1894], GUW #09405; and, acknowledging Robertson's agreement, [18 March 1894], GUW #09406.

82: C. S. Pearce to Whistler, 28 July 1894, GUW #00192; and Whistler's reply, GUW #00193.

83: [March/April 1897], GUW #09411. A review of the exhibition mentions the portrait, Art Journal, 1897, p. 279.

84: [26/30 April 1898], GUW #08075 and #10694.

85: Pennell 1921C [more], photo of exhibition repr. f. p. 150.

86: Sauter, George, 'The International Society of Painters, Sculptors and Gravers,' Studio, July 1898, vol. 14, no. 64, pp. 109-20, at pp. 113-14.

87: Whistler to W. Heinemann, [27 June 1898], GUW #08495; see Dartmouth 1898 [more].

88: W. G. Robertson to Whistler, [1/8 January 1899], GUW #05199; Diaghilev to Whistler, [December 1898], GUW #00840.

89: Whistler to W. G. Robertson, [18 March 1899], GUW #09409.