The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Arrangement in Black: La Dame au brodequin jaune – Portrait of Lady Archibald Campbell was probably started in 1882 and, although first exhibited in 1884, may have been completed in the following year. ¹

Arrangement in Black: La Dame au brodequin jaune – Portrait of Lady Archibald Campbell, Philadelphia Museum of Art

On 29 March 1882 Whistler refused to show 'Lady Archie's portrait ... until it is entirely completed.' ²

The Pennells implied that this portrait was painted after Portrait of Lady Archibald Campbell in Court Dress y240 and The Grey Lady: Portrait of Lady Archibald Campbell y241 in about 1882, and quotes a letter from the sitter in which she stated, 'I think I sat to him [Whistler] during a year or so, off and on, for a great many studies in different costumes and poses'; she added that, when she returned to London after sittings for The Grey Lady: Portrait of Lady Archibald Campbell y241 had been interrupted, Whistler asked to make a study of her 'in the dress in which I called upon him', and that this became Arrangement in Black: La Dame au brodequin jaune - Portrait of Lady Archibald Campbell y242. ³

Théodore Duret (1838-1927) was posing at the same time (see Arrangement en couleur chair et noir: Portrait de Théodore Duret y252). The Pennells write:

'We have heard of a dramatic scene just outside the studio: Lady Archibald Campbell in a hansom, on the point of driving away never to return; M. Duret springing on the step, representing to her the loss to the world of the masterpiece if she refused to stand for it again, and arguing so well that she did come back.' ⁴

According to Blackburn, a 'Portrait of Lady Archibald Campbell' in 'dark grey dress and fur cape' was exhibited in the VIII Summer Exhibition, Grosvenor Gallery, London, 1884 (cat. no. 192). ⁵ Around this time, according to William Booth Pearsall (1845-1913), he saw Lady Archibald Campbell posing, in Whistler's Fulham Road studio, 'a large room with a high light in the roof. A lady was sitting for her portrait, or rather standing in a corner on a sheet.' ⁶ According to Harbron, Beatrice Philip (Mrs E. W. Godwin, Mrs J. McN. Whistler) (1857-1896) was in the studio while the portrait was being painted. ⁷

The portrait was first exhibited in the Paris Salon in 1885 (cat. no. 2459) as 'Portrait de Lady Archibald Campbell'.

Images

Subject

Titles

Several possible titles have been suggested:

• 'Lady Archie' (1884, Whistler) ⁸
• 'Portrait of Lady Archibald Campbell' (1884, Blackburn). ⁹
• 'Portrait de Lady Archibald Campbell' (1885, Société des artistes français). ¹⁰
• 'Arrangement in Black No. 8 – Portrait of the Lady Archibald Campbell' (1887, Whistler). ¹¹
• 'Arrangement in Schwarz: Lady Archibald Campbell' (1888, Internationale Kunst-Ausstellung, Munich). ¹²
• 'Portrait de Lady Archibald Campbell; - arrangement en noir, no. 7' (1889, Exposition Universelle, Paris). ¹³
• 'The fur jacket. Arrangement in black no. 3' (1889, Tentoonstelling van Kunstwerken van Levende Meesters, Amsterdam) ¹⁴
• 'Arrangement in Black: La Dame au Brodequin Jaune' (1892, Goupil). ¹⁵
• 'La Dame au Brodequin Jaune' (1892, Whistler). ¹⁶
• 'The Lady with the Yellow Buskin' (1893, World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago). ¹⁷
• 'The Yellow Buskin' (1893, Sixty-third Annual Exhibition, Philadelphia). ¹⁸
• 'Arrangement in Black: La Dame au brodequin jaune – Portrait of Lady Archibald Campbell' (1980, YMSM). ¹⁹
• 'Arrangement in Black (The Lady in the Yellow Buskin)' (2018, Philadelphia Museum of Art). ²⁰

Whistler said (in a letter that may not have been sent to the sitter) that he dropped the name of Lady Archibald from the title because the Duke and the family did not approve of the portrait:

'With the sensitiveness of the gentle artist, upon the verdict of the Duke, if you remember, I immediately withdrew your name, and the picture was exhibited under the title of "Le Brodequin jaune" in Paris. Under this name, and not as the Portrait of the Lady Archibald Campbell, it brought the painter his red Ribbon. - his gold medal in Münich [sic], and other distinctions - Finally under the Alias of the "Yellow Buskin" it was bought by the Academy of Philadelphia for twelve hundred guineas.' ²¹

According to Duret, Whistler changed the title 'd'après la chaussure du pied en mouvement.' ²²

'Arrangement in Black: La Dame au brodequin jaune – Portrait of Lady Archibald Campbell' is the preferred title, despite the museum preferring to translate it as 'Arrangement in Black (The Lady in the Yellow Buskin)'.

The 'Arrangements in Black' are inconsistently numbered, roughly as follows:

• Arrangement in Black: Portrait of F. R. Leyland y097 was the first of Whistler's 'Arrangements in Black'.
• In the Pall Mall exhibition of 1874 Arrangement in Black, No. 2: Portrait of Mrs Louis Huth y125) was exhibited specifically as 'No. 2' in the series.
• A photograph of Arrangement in Black, No. 3: Sir Henry Irving as Philip II of Spain y187 was mistakenly labelled by Whistler as 'Arrangement in Black, No. 2', but it was exhibited several times as 'Arrangement in Black, No. 3'.
• However, Arrangement in Black and Brown: The Fur Jacket y181 was exhibited as 'Arrangement in Black, No. 3', in 1888-1889, and in a drawing, Whistler's portrait of Lady Meux (Arrangement in Black: Lady Meux y228) was also given that title.
• No painting seems to have been listed or exhibited as 'Arrangement in Black, No. 4'.
• Arrangement in Brown and Black: Portrait of Miss Rosa Corder y203 and Arrangement in Black: La Dame au brodequin jaune - Portrait of Lady Archibald Campbell y242 were both called at different times 'Arrangement in Black, No. 5' or 'Arrangement in Black, No. 7' (the latter as 'arrangement en noir, no. 7').
• A portrait of Maud Franklin (1857-1939) (Harmony in Black and Red y236) was the only painting called 'Arrangement in Black, No. 6'.
• The eighth in the series was Arrangement in Black, No. 8: Portrait of Mrs Cassatt y250.
• Number 9 has not been identified.
• There was no 'Arrangement in Black, No. 10', but there was a Harmony in Black, No. 10 y357, which may have been intended as part of the series.

Description

Arrangement in Black: La Dame au brodequin jaune – Portrait of Lady Archibald Campbell, Philadelphia Museum of Art

A full length portrait of a woman in vertical format. She stands in profile to left, looking back towards the viewer. She wears a dark blue-grey costume and brown fur cape, and is pulling on yellow gloves. She stands on a beige floor that shades into a black background. She wears a yellow-tan high heeled shoe, and appears to be about to step away.

Sitter

Janey Sevilla (née Callander), Lady Archibald Campbell, 1862, photograph, National Portrait Gallery, NPG Ax59764

Janey Sevilla Campbell (Lady Archibald Campbell) (ca 1846-d.1923).

This was the third full-length portrait of Lady Archibald Campbell by Whistler, and the only one to be completed and to survive (see Portrait of Lady Archibald Campbell in Court Dress y240, The Grey Lady: Portrait of Lady Archibald Campbell y241).

In the 1880s Lady Archie became involved with dress revival and reform through her friendship with Edward William Godwin (1833-1886), architect, designer and close friend of Whistler (in 1884, the year Lady Archie and Godwin began their collaboration, Godwin published Dress and its Relation to Health and Climate).

Comments

George Moore (1852-1933) wrote that 'the likeness is vague and shadowy; she is only representative of her class. … a lady du grand monde.' ²³

The costume worn by Lady Archibald Campbell have been discussed in detail by Aileen Ribeiro, Helen M. Burnham and Anna Gruetzner Robins, among others; Ribeiro described the 'tailored woolen costume, the skirt wrapping and glossy furs [as] very much a fad of the late nineteenth century'. ²⁴ Burnham discusses the costume further:

'The skirt’s weighty wool, loosely pleated style, short hemline, and tie-back over the hips are features of the “tailor-made.” This type of clothing, incorporating details from men’s apparel, has its origins in the riding habits created for wealthy ladies by men’s tailors from the seventeenth century on and would have been worn primarily by upper- and upper-middle class women in the 1880s. The fur cape and toque, which appear to be of beaver or sable, were also adapted from men’s coachwear as jaunty overgarments for everyday use. The tailor-made enables the mobility suggested by her kinetic pose, while the accessories – particularly the historicizing "brodequin jaune" with its Louis XV heel and archaic name – link Lady Archie to the vanguard of fashion.' ²⁵

Anna Robins comments that the portrait was 'a modern image of a modern woman':

'If he had painted his portraits a decade later his sitters might have been New Women but in the 1880s this category was still in its infancy. Although none of these portraits depict their subjects in the public realm, they signal them as New Women through costume, deportment and occupation. Thus they serve both as portraits of individuals and as a collective image of the New Woman.' ²⁶

Technique

Composition

The Pennells quote a letter from the sitter in which she stated, 'I think I sat to him [Whistler] during a year or so, off and on, for a great many studies in different costumes and poses'; she added that, when she returned to London after interrupting sittings for The Grey Lady: Portrait of Lady Archibald Campbell y241, Whistler asked to make a study of her 'in the dress in which I called upon him', and that this became Arrangement in Black: La Dame au brodequin jaune - Portrait of Lady Archibald Campbell y242. ²⁷

Duret told the Pennells that 'she suggested changes to Whistler, who, though he seldom accepted suggestions from his sitters, did his best to meet her wishes until it seemed as if, to please her, he must repaint his picture, and he was seized with discouragement.' ²⁸

'Lady Archie’s clothing complements the twisting pose. Her costume forms a series of oppositional curves—from the blue-gray skirt swinging out from the atmospheric background, to the fur cap pointing away from the viewer—while revealing only the broadest outlines of her reportedly svelte figure. ''' ' ²⁹

Technique

Arrangement in Black: La Dame au brodequin jaune – Portrait of Lady Archibald Campbell, Philadelphia Museum of Art

She posed, according to Sickert, against a background of black velvet, in Whistler's Tite Street studio. The Pennells quote the sitter as saying it was 'painted in a very few sittings.' ³⁰ However, as Robins notes, 'everyone who witnessed his painting performance testified that it was an agonising process, with Whistler endlessly rubbing out and repainting the atmospheric depth. The black was never intended to be a black background (once again, Sickert is the authority for this) but a black in front of which was "admirably observed atmosphere" '. ³¹

It was painted fairly thinly, the shadows merging with the figure, the edges of the figure being mainly soft, painted while the background was wet. Only at the left, down the curve of her torso, is there a more precisely defined edge. Brushstrokes are, however, clearly visible on the hands and sleeve, and a few strokes define her glove. The face is quite highly finished and precise, but the hair is, again, indicated with a few curving sweeps of the brush.

George Moore (1852-1933) commented that 'the fingers of the right hand … are non-existent; after a dozen attempts to paint the gloved hand, only an approximate result was obtained. Look at the ear, and say that the painter's nerves did not give way once or twice. And the likeness is vague and shadowy.' ³²

Conservation History

Unknown.

Frame

Portrait Whistler frame, dating from ca 1884 [17.2 cm]. ³³

History

Provenance

• 1892: bought from the artist by Alexander Reid (1854-1928), Glasgow art dealer;
• 1895: bought from Reid by John Graver Johnson (1841-1917) for Philadelphia Museum of Art.

According to Arthur Jerome Eddy (1859-1920), the sitter told Whistler, 'My husband wished me to say that he ... appreciated the honor of your inviting me to sit for a portrait but that ... he did not wish to be understood as committing himself in any way, and the picture must not be considered a commission', and Whistler replied, 'We are doing this for the pleasure there is in it.' ³⁴

According to Walford Graham Robertson (1867-1948), 'the Campbell family rejected it with the delicate remark that it represented a street walker encouraging a shy follower with a backward glance.' ³⁵

A draft letter to the sitter partially confirms this story, in the context of a request by Lady Archie to reproduce the portrait in a forthcoming Book of Beauty:

' "Tout arrive à point à qui sait attendre"! - which does not at all improperly hint at your having waited for this little note - but rather that I, after these years, have not waited in vain for the moment when my picture should be claimed as the portrait of the grande dame de par le monde, who takes her place in the nations book of Beauty!

For at first you would none of it! - The Duke's opinion was quoted as beyond all question! - and it went forth irrevocably that the Clan repudiated the painting - That the pride had been pained, in that the lady Archibald had been invested by the vulgarity of the painter with a jaunty sauciness to be found only in the pertness of a petite Bourgeoise unknown to a daughter of their House - and intolerable to the Argyles ...

Whereupon if you remember, with delicacy characteristic of the gentle Artist, I at once withdrew the name from the work, and effaced the picture ceasing to be a portrait went forth as the "Brodequin Jaune" - under which title only was it known at Exposition Universelle, where, incognito, the lady received the first Gold Medal in Paris -

In Münich she brought back the ribbon of St Michael and now known as the Yellow Buskin she hangs on the walls of the Philadelphia Academy whose directors payed 1200 or 1500 gs for the outcast and highly disapproved person!' ³⁶

In December 1886 Richard d'Oyly Carte agreed to lend Whistler £500 on the security of Arrangement in Grey and Black: Portrait of the Painter's Mother y101 and Arrangement in Black: La Dame au brodequin jaune - Portrait of Lady Archibald Campbell y242, and both were in his possession in April 1887: this meant that it could only be exhibited under Carte's name. ³⁷ Whistler lent the money to the Society of British Artists, but reclaimed the money and probably redeemed both pictures in July 1888. ³⁸

In 1891 Whistler hoped, in vain, that the 'B' might be sold in Liverpool. Then in January 1892 he hoped, again in vain, to sell the painting in Paris:

'Directly the Concert finished, Madame Gréfhüle, the Count of course, and a whole bouquet of Princes go over to Goupils! - and sit for two hours in Joyants little entresol, and stare at the B. who goes up in price - and up in chance of being gobbled by the fish!' ³⁹

He then suggested selling it to Americans including Bertha Honoré Palmer (1849-1918):

'How about Americans ... are there any more coming over - Mrs Potter Palmer goes on to London ... She is the most important lady in the Chicago Exhibition matters - You must find her and show her "La Dame au Brodequin Jaune".' ⁴⁰

Alexander Reid (1854-1928) offered 'to buy the picture right out & I could not afford to pay more than say £600' since 'malheureusement my capital is not equalled by my enthusiasm.' ⁴¹

Whistler suggested £600 and a share of future profits:

'Now, this picture is one of the most in repute, and is continually referred to in the press - There are many who look upon it as much more important, (than, for instance the "Furred Jacket", which is more of an artists picture) besides being the portrait of a well known lady - instead of an obscure nobody … This "Brodequin Jaune" then, is one of the best of my possessions - of what the people are pleased to call that period ... I think you ought to give me either more down - or - the £600 - and then divide the profits.' ⁴²

Reid counter-offered, £600 outright, or £400 and a share of profits, and Whistler agreed. ⁴³ However on 19 August 1892 Whistler acknowledged 'your second cheque for £400 - making, with the first for £200 - six hundred pounds for the "Dame au Brodequin Jaune".' ⁴⁴ By November, Reid was asking '£1000 or guineas' for it. ⁴⁵ It was exhibited in Philadelphia in 1893 and Reid wrote to Whistler, 'after all their promises surely one of the pictures will be sold.' ⁴⁶ Harrison S. Morris (1856-1948), manager of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, claimed that La Princesse du pays de la porcelaine y050, Arrangement in Black and Brown: The Fur Jacket y181 and Arrangement in Black: La Dame au brodequin jaune - Portrait of Lady Archibald Campbell y242 were offered to the Academy by a syndicate headed by Reid, at $15,000 each, but the Academy was not interested.

According to the Pennells, Morris persuaded John Graver Johnson (1841-1917), chairman of the Wilstach Bequest, to buy it from the exhibition at the Academy for the Wilstach Collection in 1894. ⁴⁷ Reid told Whistler that he expected to receive $6000 for it. ⁴⁸

Johnson successfully offered Reid $7500 against the asking price of $15,000. It was purchased with the W. P. Wilstach Fund for the Philadelphia Museum of Art. This was the first painting by Whistler to be bought for an American public collection.

Exhibitions

• 1884: VIII Summer Exhibition, Grosvenor Gallery, London, 1884 (cat. no. 192) as 'Portrait of Lady Archibald Campbell'.
• Ouvrages de peinture, sculpture, architecture, gravure et lithographie des artistes vivants, 103rd exhibition, Salon de la Société des artistes français, Palais des Champs Elysées, Paris, 1885 (cat. no. 2459) as 'Portrait de Lady Archibald Campbell'.
• 1888: III. Internationale Kunst-Ausstellung, Königlicher Glaspalast, Munich, 1888 as 'Arrangement in Schwarz: Lady Archibald Campbell'.
• 1889: Exposition Universelle, Champs de Mars, Paris, 1889, British section (cat. no. 165) as 'Portrait de Lady Archibald Campbell; – arrangement en noir, no. 7'.
• Exposition Générale des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, 1890.
• 1891: 21st Autumn Exhibition of Pictures, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, 1891.
• 1892: Nocturnes, Marines & Chevalet Pieces, Goupil Gallery, London, 1892 (cat. no. 41) as 'Arrangement in Black: La Dame au Brodequin Jaune'.
• 1893: World's Columbian Exposition, Department of Fine Arts, Chicago, 1893 (cat. no. 758) as 'The Lady with the Yellow Buskin'.
• 1893: Sixty-third Annual Exhibition, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, 1893 (cat. no. 35) as 'The Yellow Buskin'.

Arrangement in Black: La Dame au brodequin jaune – Portrait of Lady Archibald Campbell, Philadelphia Museum of Art

1884, Grosvenor Gallery: On 2 May 1883 Janey Sevilla Campbell (Lady Archibald Campbell) (ca 1846-d.1923) had written to Whistler saying that she was sorry not to see 'Lady A's picture' (which portrait is not clear) exhibited at the Grosvenor Gallery. ⁴⁹

However, according to Blackburn, a 'Portrait of Lady Archibald Campbell' in 'dark grey dress and fur cape' was exhibited at the Grosvenor Gallery in 1884. ⁵⁰ Whistler apologised to Coutts Lindsay (1824-1913) that it was 'sunken in & degraded & begrimed with dirt.' ⁵¹ Presumably it was then cleaned and possibly revarnished. Alan Summerly Cole (1846-1934) noted in his diary on 30 April 1884: 'To Grosvenor Private view. Jimmy's portrait of Lady Archie quite surprising, graceful and charming.' ⁵² Whistler himself told an artist friend, Thomas Waldo Story (1855-1915), 'My 'Lady Archie' is magnificent.' ⁵³ However, he asked another friend, the sculptor Joseph Edgar Boehm (1834-1890), what he thought of the portrait: 'badly they have hung it haven't they - still if you stand in the other gallery, on the farthest side, and look through the door at the picture - then you will see how beautifully she stands away from the infernal vulgar stuff about her on the walls.' ⁵⁴ Boehm replied that it was perfectly all right:

'I did not think Lady Archibald C. badly hung - & think it as lovely as it is vigorous, if it were less high it would perhaps be better for the perspective of the floor in the picture but it is very fine[,] the lines & composition are grand & simple & full of grace.' ⁵⁵

The Pennells described it as 'one of Whistler's several Arrangements in Black. Critics of the day could discover in the series only dinginess and dirt. One wit described the picture as the portrait of a lady pursuing the last train through the smoke of the Underground.' ⁵⁶ It is true that a 'wit' writing for the Sporting Gazette commented, 'His portrait of Lady Archibald Campbell is excellent, though it is Lady Campbell in the coalhole.' ⁵⁷ It may be that the lighting was not entirely satisfactory, in that the Birmingham Daily Post on 2 May 1884 wrote that it 'depends much on the light in which it is seen'. However, several newspapers were mildly complimentary. The Bristol Times critic wrote, tongue in cheek, 'we must dissemble, or I may get myself into hot water. But never mind, it so happens I like the picture better than any I have seen by Mr. Whistler for some time'; the Edinburgh Evening News called it 'a vivid and characteristic piece of portraiture', and the Times of India added condescendingly that the portrait was one 'which this fantastic painter has condescended to make a little more generally attractive than usual'. ⁵⁸

Théodore Duret (1838-1927) saw it at the Grosvenor Gallery and described it enthusiastically: 'il me semble que voilà réalisées toutes les conditions d'une oeuvre de grand art. Originalité de forme et de fond, invention dans le sujet, simplicité dans l'exécution; la vie, le mouvement rendus sensibles sur la toile.' ⁵⁹ Henry James (1843-1916) described it as 'an adorable big Whistler, a portrait of Lady Archibald Campbell. It is almost as good as the portrait of his Mother.' ⁶⁰

1885, Salon, Paris: Whistler was deeply concerned about the state in which it arrived in Paris in 1885, and contacted Duret: 'Il me parait comprendre que Duran[d] Ruel a mal fait les choses, et que mon portrait de Lady Archie est arrivé au Salon dans un fichu état - et qu'il a été verni depuis - et par conséquent doit être couvert de poussière a l'heure qu'il est.' ⁶¹ However, Duret reported 'that the first day it seemed all "sunk in" but that it had been varnished since and is now in a perfect condition.' ⁶² According to Sickert, Hilaire-Germain-Edgar Degas (1834-1917) greatly admired the portrait and said, 'Elle rentre dans la cave de Watteau.' ⁶³

Whistler asked George Aloysius Lucas (1824-1909), and later, Messrs Durand-Ruel, to arrange for it to be photographed by Adolphe Braun (1812-1877), founder of the Paris photographic firm, in Paris. Then, when the painting was in London, he planned for it to be photographed in his studio, hoping to sell the copyright to Messrs Dowdeswell. ⁶⁴ Then he arranged for it to be engraved by Delorme-Butler. The resulting wood engraving was reproduced by Duret. ⁶⁵ Whistler described the painting to a journalist as 'the graceful and distinguished portrait of Lady Archibald Campbell, which was last year the marvel of the Salon'. ⁶⁶

1887, Manchester: It was listed as 'Arrangement in Black No. 8 – Portrait of the Lady Archibald Campbell', and Whistler told George William Agnew (1852-1941) that he had hoped to send it to the Manchester Jubilee exhibition. ⁶⁷

1888, Munich: For exhibition in Munich it was insured for £1000. Robert Koehler (1850-1917) was sorry to hear that Whistler was exhibiting in the British section and asked if some could be included in the American section. ⁶⁸ Whistler agreed but made certain stipulations:

'Most certainly do I wish to be with my own Countrymen in the Exhibition - and if you do not feel that I shall abuse their hospitality by the number of my works - that is practically if you are of opinion that you can properly hang all that I am sending, I shall be only too pleased to place myself at your disposal. I am naturally proud to know that you take this interest in my work, and are willing to look upon it as of any importance in your collection.

I would beg you, however, to understand that it was quite clearly accepted by Mr Papperitz that I only sent at all, on condition that what I considered a representative assertion of my work, should in its entirety be perfectly hung.' ⁶⁹

Koehler therefore asked how much wall space was required, but by 28 May it was clear there was insufficient room in the American section and Whistler's work reverted to the British section. ⁷⁰ It was awarded a second-class medal, and in response, Whistler ironically sent the Committee his 'sentiments of tempered and respectable joy' and 'complete appreciation of the second-hand compliment.' ⁷¹

1889, Exposition Universelle, Paris: Whistler proposed to exhibit in the American section, but after sending a rather large group of work, he was asked to remove ten of them, which had not been approved by the jury. Whistler promptly removed the lot. ⁷² As he told the Pall Mall Gazette, 'You are badly informed ... I have not "withdrawn" my works" from the forthcoming Paris Exhibition. I transported my pictures from the American department to the British Section of the Exposition Internationale - where I prefer to be represented ... A little paragraph is a dangerous thing.' ⁷³

The portrait was exhibited in the British section, and this time it was awarded a first-class gold medal. ⁷⁴ Joris-Karl Huysmans (1848-1907) praised it highly: her brown boots and gloves were, he wrote, painted with 'deux coups qui réveillent la nuit dont les ténèbres s'éclaircissent', while the lady herself, 'jaillit avec une suprême élégance.' ⁷⁵ Robert de Montesquiou-Fezensac (1855-1921) raved about the work that Whistler exhibited, meaning either this painting or Variations in Flesh Colour and Green: The Balcony y056:

'Cette toile qui a l'air non pas faite, mais mûrie par un soleil artiste. Cette chose dont il faudrait dire qu'elle est la plus jolie des peintures, si ce n'était pas encor mieux – La plus jolie des choses.

Cette peinture matériellement persuasive, invitante et déroutante qui donne tout d'abord envie de l'embrasser - et puis de la manger!' ⁷⁶

Freely translated – Montesquiou's literary style being a bit obscure – this reads:

'This canvas which gives the feeling of having been not made, but ripened by an artistic sun. This work of which it must be said that it is the most beautiful of paintings, if it were not even better – the most beautiful of things. This materially persuasive painting, inviting and distracting which arouses an immediate desire to kiss it - and then to eat it!'

It is worth noting that it was exhibited as 'The fur jacket. Arrangement in black no. 3' in Amsterdam and 'No. 7' in Paris, in the same year!

1890, Brussels: From Brussels on 18 September 1890, Gérard Harry (fl. 1877-1890) wrote to Whistler, 'How Mrs. Harry and myself - and indeed every one in Brussels - relish your "Lady Archibald Campbell".' ⁷⁷

1891: Adolf Paulus (1851-1924) wanted to borrow Arrangement in Brown and Black: Portrait of Miss Rosa Corder y203 for exhibition, and Whistler offered Walford Graham Robertson (1867-1948), 'La Dame au brodequin jaune' as a replacement. ⁷⁸

1891, Liverpool: Whistler told his wife,'Well the B. looks I think all right - and perhaps - but only perhaps - runs a chance of staying in the Provinces - We shall see!' ⁷⁹ But it was not bought for the city of Liverpool.

Arrangement in Black: La Dame au brodequin jaune – Portrait of Lady Archibald Campbell, photograph, 1892, Goupil Album, GUL Whistler PH5/2

1892, Goupil Gallery, London: D. C. Thomson described the picture as it was hung in Goupil's:

'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 magistrale in every way, & their harmonies march along like heroes returning from victory.' ⁸⁰

1893, Philadelphia: The painting was awarded the Temple Gold Medal. ⁸¹

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. 242), plate 170, as 'Arrangement in Black: La Dame au brodequin jaune – Portrait of Lady Archibald Campbell'.

Authored by Whistler

• Goupil Gallery and James McNeill Whistler, Nocturnes, Marines & Chevalet Pieces [portfolio of photographs published after the Goupil Gallery Exhibition, March-April 1892], London, 1892, repr. pl. 19.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• VIII Summer Exhibition, Grosvenor Gallery, London, 1884 (cat. no. 192) as 'Portrait of Lady Archibald Campbell'.
• Ouvrages de peinture, sculpture, architecture, gravure et lithographie des artistes vivants, 103rd exhibition, Salon de la Société des artistes français, Palais des Champs Elysées, Paris, 1885 (cat. no. 2459) as 'Portrait de Lady Archibald Campbell'.
• III. Internationale Kunst-Ausstellung, Königlicher Glaspalast, Munich, 1888 as 'Arrangement in Schwarz: Lady Archibald Campbell'.
• Exposition Universelle, Champs de Mars, Paris, 1889, British section (cat. no. 165) as 'Portrait de Lady Archibald Campbell; – arrangement en noir, no. 7'.
• Exposition Générale des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, 1890.
• 21st Autumn Exhibition of Pictures, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, 1891.
• Nocturnes, Marines & Chevalet Pieces, Goupil Gallery, London, 1892 (cat. no. 41) as 'Arrangement in Black: La Dame au Brodequin Jaune'.
• World's Columbian Exposition, Department of Fine Arts, Chicago, 1893 (cat. no. 758) as 'The Lady with the Yellow Buskin'.
• Sixty-third Annual Exhibition, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, 1893 (cat. no. 35) as 'The Yellow Buskin'.

Newspapers 1855-1905

• Anon., Bristol Times and Mirror, Bristol, 1 May 1884, p. 3.
• Anon., 'The Grosvenor Gallery', Birmingham Daily Post, Birmingham, 2 May 1884, pp. 4-5.
• Anon., 'The County Gentleman', Sporting Gazette, London, 10 May 1884, pp. 6-7.
• Anon., 'A Gallop through the Galleries', Edinburgh Evening News, Edinburgh, 12 May 1884, p. 2.
• Anon., 'The Grosvenor Gallery', Times of India, Maharashtra, 24 May 1884, p. 6.
• Anon., 'The Grosvenor Gallery', London Daily News, London, 2 June 1884, p. 6.
• Anon., 'The Paris Salon', The Scotsman, Edinburgh, 5 May 1885, p. 5.
• Whistler to the Editor, New York Herald, New York, 26 April 1889.
• Whistler to the Editor, Pall Mall Gazette, London, 27 April 1889, p. 6.
• Hawkins, Rush C., letter to the Editor, New York Herald, New York, 28 April 1889.
• 'Whistler's Grievance', New York Herald, New York, 3 October 1889.
• Whistler to the Editor, New York Herald, New York, 6 October 1889.
• Anon., 'Whistler's Works', The Graphic, London, 26 March 1892, p. 26.

Journals 1855-1905

• Blackburn, Henry, Grosvenor Notes, London, 1884, p. 41.
• Duret, Théodore, 'Correspondance d’Angleterre: Expositions de la Royal Academy et de la Grosvenor Gallery', Gazette des beaux-arts, vol. 29, June 1884, pp. 531-36, at pp. 535-36.
• Dowdeswell, Walter, ‘Whistler’, Art Journal, April 1887, pp. 97-103, repr. as 'Harmony in Brown and Black – Lady Archibald Campbell'.
• Huysmans, Joris Karl, Certains: G. Moreau - Degas - Cheret - Wisthler [sic] - Rops - Le Monstre - Le Fer, etc., Paris, 1889, p. 70.
• 'The Paris Exhibition 1889', The Art Journal, December 1889, pp. ix-xvi, at p. xii.
• Geffroy, Gustave, 'The Salon of 1891', La Justice, 1 July 1891 (trans. in Spencer, Robin (ed.), Whistler: A Retrospective, New York, 1989, pp. 271-72).
• Sickert, Walter Richard, 'Whistler To-day', The Fortnightly Review, vol. 57, new series, vol. 51, April 1892, pp. 543-47, at p. 543.
• Moore, George, 'Mr. Whistler’s Portraits I', The Speaker: A Review of Politics, Letters, Science and the Arts, vol. 5, 2 April 1892, pp. 406-07, at p. 406.
• Anon., ‘Дж. УистлерЪ [Dzh. Uistler]’, Мир искусства [Mir Iskusstva, 'World of Art'], vol. 9, 1903, pp. 61-68, repr. p. 65.
• Bénédite, Léonce, 'Artistes Contemporains: Whistler', Gazette des beaux-arts, vol. 33, 1905, pp. 403-10, 496-511; vol. 34, 1905, pp. 142-58, 231-46, in vol. 34 at p. 244.

Monographs

• None.

Books on Whistler

• Curry, David Park, James McNeill Whistler: Uneasy Pieces, New York, 2004, pp. 168-69, 410 n. 11.
• Duret, Théodore, Histoire de J. McN. Whistler et de son oeuvre, Paris, 1904, pp. 95-99, 102, wood engraving by Delorme-Butler repr. p. 97.
• Eddy, Arthur Jerome, Recollections and Impressions of James A. McNeill Whistler, Philadelphia and London, 1903, pp. 119-20.
• MacDonald, Margaret F., Susan Galassi, Aileen Ribeiro, and Patricia de Montfort, Whistler, Women and Fashion, New Haven and London, 2003, pp. 9, 34-35, 136, 178-83, 330, figs. 172, 175.
• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Life of James McNeill Whistler, 2 vols, London and Philadelphia, 1908, vol. 1, pp. 305-07, repr. f.p. 305; vol. 2, pp. 28, 88, 90-91, 116, 132, 298.
• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Whistler Journal, Philadelphia, 1921, p. 4.
• Petri, Grischka, Arrangement in Business: The Art Markets and the Career of James McNeill Whistler, Hildesheim, 2011, pp. 173-74, 390, 429, 443, 453, 492, 534, 563-64, 683, 689.
• Robins, Anna Gruetzner, A Fragile Modernism. Whistler and his Impressionist Followers, London and New Haven, 2007, pp. 66-70, 84-85, 161.
• Spencer, Robin (ed.), Whistler: A Retrospective, New York, 1989, pp. 267, 272.
• Spencer, Robin, Whistler, New York, 1990, pp. 108-09.
• Sutherland, Daniel E., Whistler: A Life for Art's Sake, New Haven and London, 2014, pp. 191, 199, 256, 262, 275.
• Sutton, Denys, Nocturne: The Art of James McNeill Whistler, London, 1963, p. 101.

Books, General

• Anesko, Michael and Greg. W. Zacharias (eds), The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1883-1884, vol. 2, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, 2019.
• Blanche, Jacques-Émile, Portraits of a Lifetime: The Late Victorian Era, the Edwardian Pageant, 1870-1914, W. Clement (trans. and ed.), London, 1937, p. 73.
• Harbron, Dudley, The Conscious Stone: The Life of Edward William Godwin, London, 1949, p. 167.
• Moore, George, Modern Painting, London, 1893, pp. 7-9, 11.
• Morris, Harrison S., Confessions in Art, New York, 1930, pp. 17-18, 45-6.
• Muther, Richard Geschichte der Malerei im XIX Jahrhundert, 3 vols, Munich, 1893-1894 ('Whistler und die Schotten', vol. 3, chap. 48, pp. 522-37), vol. 3, p. 522, engraving repr. p. 523.
• Preston, Kerrison (ed.), Letters of W. Graham Robertson, London, 1953, pp. 367-68.
• Robins, Anna Gruetzner (ed.), Walter Sickert: the Complete Writings on Art, Oxford, 2000, pp. 4, 36, 59, 91, 186, 417.

Catalogues 1906-Present

• Young, A. McLaren, James McNeill Whistler, Arts Council Gallery, London, and Knoedler Galleries, New York, 1960 (cat. no. 45).
• Sweet, Frederick A., James McNeill Whistler, Art Institute of Chicago and Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, 1968 (cat. no. 33).
• Blaugrund, Annettte, Paris 1889: American Artists at the Universal Exposition, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1989 (cat. no. 165).
• 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 (cat. no. 130).
• Merrill, Linda, et al., After Whistler: The Artist and His Influence on American Painting, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, 2003, pp. 24-25, 55-57, 67, repr. fig. 16.

Journals 1906-Present

• Mahey, John A. (ed.). 'The Letters of James McNeill Whistler to George A. Lucas', Art Bulletin, vol. 49, September 1967, pp. 247-57, at p. 255.
• Sickert, Walter R., ‘The New Life of Whistler’, Fortnightly Review, XC, 1 December 1908, pp. 1017-28, at p. 1027.
• Sickert, Walter R., ‘Where Paul and I differ’, Art News, No. 14, 10 February 1910, p. 113.
• Sickert, Walter R., ‘Degas’, Burlington Magazine, vol. 31, November 1917, pp. 183-91, at p. 186.
• 'Modern Painting in the Wilstach Gallery', The International Studio, vol. 63, 1918, p. cviii.

Websites

• Philadelphia Museum of Art website at http://www.philamuseum.org.

Unpublished

• Revillon, Joseph Whistler, Draft Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings of J. McN. Whistler, [ca 1945-1955], Glasgow University Library (cat.no. 162).

Other

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