The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Portrait of Miss Nora McNay may have dated from 1885 or 1886. ¹

On 20 February 1886, shortly after Nora McNay's death, Whistler planned to visit Mrs McNay at her house at Norwood, and wrote 'how sad we all have been about dear little Nora ... Maud and I have looked up the tiny sketch of Nora - and I will do what I can - but I fear very much that you could find nothing of the pretty child, I wanted to paint, in it - however we will try.' ²

Images

Subject

Titles

The suggested title is:

• Portrait of Miss Nora McNay (1980, YMSM). ³

Description

A portrait of a girl.

Sitter

Eleanor ('Nora') Ruth McNay (1868-1886). Whistler called her 'My dear little Lili Nora!' ⁴

Nora was born on 16 January 1868 and died in Croydon, Surrey, at the age of 18. She was the daughter of Mary Isabella and Thomas Fothergill McNay (1836-1907) of Audley Villa, Selhurst Road, South Norwood. The McNays were acquaintances of Whistler in the early 1880s.

La Dormeuse, Thomas Colville Fine Art

A drawing dated 14 March 1882, showing a woman reclining on a sofa, Mrs or Miss McNay m0868, may actually have been of Eleanor McNay. Another pencil sketch of a young woman sleeping, La Dormeuse m0869, almost certainly shows her. Both suggest she was in ill health. La Dormeuse may well have been the 'tiny sketch of Nora' referred to by Whistler and was to be the basis for an oil. ⁵ It is by no means certain that the oil was completed, or even started, despite Whistler's willingness to attempt it.

Technique

Technique

Unknown.

Conservation History

Unknown.

Frame

Unknown.

History

Provenance

Unknown.

Exhibitions

It was not exhibited in Whistler's lifetime.

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. 348) as 'Portrait of Miss Nora McNay'.

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Unpublished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.