The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler
YMSM 270
St Ives, The Nets on the Hill
Date
St Ives, The Nets on the Hill dates from Whistler's painting expedition to Cornwall between January and March 1884.
On 4 January Whistler wrote from St Ives to Ernest George Brown (1851-1915) that he was 'tremendously busy with lots of pictures of all kinds.' 1 He described his work to a collector, Alfred Chapman (1839-1917) as 'oil paintings - little beauties.' 2
Images
St Ives, The Nets on the Hill, Whereabouts unknown
Subject
Titles
Only one title is known:
- 'St Ives – the nets on the hill' (1901/1902, Whistler). 3
- 'St Ives, The Nets on the Hill' (1980, YMSM). 4
The punctuation was altered in 1980 to conform with other titles.
Description
Presumably a landscape, with fishing nets drying, on poles and lines, on a hill above the town.
Site
St Ives, a fishing village in Cornwall, south-wets England.
Technique
Technique
Unknown.
Conservation History
Unknown.
Frame
Unknown.
History
Provenance
- 1899: sold by Whistler to Charles Hessele (fl. 1892-1914), Paris art dealer.
According to a note in a letter-book, Whistler sold several paintings to 'Hessel', probably Charles Hessele (fl. 1892-1914). The note reads:
'Copy of List of pictures sold to Hessel.
The Red Feather.
St Ives - the nets on the hill
Lyme. The Little yellow girl.
Chelsea. Little furniture shop.
Green shop. Calais.
Blue Sea piece Dieppe.' 5
Whistler wrote triumphantly to the New York art dealer, Edward Guthrie Kennedy (1849-1932), on 8 July 1899:
'[A] man here ... has just now carried off seven paintings that you, for the last two years, had not perceived as sufficiently "grown" to be of service - but which properly framed and signed - as they now all are - go to make a mighty pretty little collection, which you ought to try and borrow for your New York Exhibition - When you come back to Paris, after your journeyings, I will take you to the place, where you shall see them all.' 6
The paintings listed as sold to Hessele were The Girl in Red y312, Chelsea, Little Furniture Shop y373, Green and Gold: A Shop in Calais y474, Violet and Blue: The Red Feather y503, and Blue Sea Piece, Dieppe y525.
The sale may not have gone through as expected. One of the paintings recorded in the ledger remained in Whistler's estate (Green and Gold: A Shop in Calais y474) and three (St Ives, The Nets on the Hill y270, Chelsea, Little Furniture Shop y373 and Blue Sea Piece, Dieppe y525) cannot be traced with certainty.
Whistler did later attempt to retrieve some canvases that he had decided were unfinished (see The Girl in Red y312, and Violet and Blue: The Red Feather y503). It is possible that he later regretted his agreement with Hessele and retained at least some of the pictures.
Exhibitions
- Unknown.
Bibliography
Catalogues Raisonnés
- Young, Andrew McLaren, Margaret F. MacDonald, Robin Spencer, and Hamish Miles, The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler, New Haven and London, 1980 (cat. no. 270) as 'St Ives, The Nets on the Hill'.
Authored by Whistler
- None.
Catalogues 1855-1905
- None.
Journals 1855-1905
- None.
Monographs
- None.
Books on Whistler
- None.
Books, General
- None.
Catalogues 1906-Present
- None.
Journals 1906-Present
- None.
Websites
- None.
Unpublished
- None.
Other
- None.
Notes:
1: 4 January [1884], GUW #03603.
2: 15 January [1884], GUW #09038.
3: GUW #13662.
4: YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 270).
5: Note, [June/July 1899], formerly dated [1901/1902], GUW #13662.
6: GUW #09790