The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

The Rose Scarf probably dates from between 1892 and 1896. ¹

The Rose Scarf, The Hunterian

It is dated by comparison with other portraits, particularly Rose et argent: La Jolie Mutine y389. However, it is difficult to date stylistically and it could date from later.

Images

Subject

Titles

Only one title is known:

• 'L'écharpe Rose' ('The Rose Scarf') (1905, Œuvres de James McNeill Whistler, Paris). ²
• 'L'Écharpe rose' (1936, University of Glasgow). ³
• 'The Rose Scarf' (1980, YMSM). ⁴

'The Rose Scarf' is the preferred title. Whistler was interested in fashion and often chose, and occasionally designed, outfits for specific portraits. Several titles refer, like this, to the sitter's clothing or accessories i.e. Arrangement in Black: La Dame au brodequin jaune - Portrait of Lady Archibald Campbell y242, Red and Black: The Fan y388, and Harmony in Brown: The Felt Hat y395.

Description

The Rose Scarf, The Hunterian

A half-length portrait of a woman, in vertical format. She wears a very pale pink blouse with frills down the front, and a dark skirt. Her head is slightly tilted to her right and she is looking to her right. She has brown curly hair, with a fringe. She is sitting in a chair: the black arms are visible, but her own arms and hands are unresolved.

Sitter

Unknown.

Rose et argent: La Jolie Mutine, The Hunterian

The Rose Scarf, The Hunterian

The same model may have posed for another portrait of a woman, Rose et argent: La Jolie Mutine y389.

W. & D. Downey, Ethel Birnie Philip (Mrs Whibley), [ca 1895], GUL Whistler PH1/52

It is possible that the model is Whistler's sister-in-law Ethel Whibley (1861-1920), who married Charles Whibley in 1895, and posed for numerous portraits by Whistler.

Comments

The Observer, on 6 June 1915, commented that "In 'L'Echarpe Rose,' a portrait study of infinite subtlety, both in characterisation and in the blending of colour notes that cannot possibly be described in definite terms, the master betrays a certain kinship with the Belgian, Alfred Stevens." ⁵ Alfred Émile-Léopold Stevens (1823-1906) was a close friend of Whistler in the 1890s, and the comparison is an interesting one.

Technique

Technique

The Rose Scarf, The Hunterian

The hardwood panel – a single panel about 1 cm thick – was primed in white, and secondly in grey. Upside down in the lower right corner there is a rough sketch in graphite pencil of a head and shoulders, possibly another portrait. Then, the other (correct) way up, the upper part of the figure and the scarf were drawn lightly with a fine pointed, hard, graphite pencil. There is less drawing towards the waist. ⁶

The figure was underpainted in dark grey and brown. The brighter shades – orange, pale pink flesh-colour and darker shades of pink – were then painted extremely softly with a big sable brush. The pale grey priming was left bare to form highlights.

Conservation History

The paint was excessively thinned in places, leading to poor film formation. The varnish is thick and yellowed. The panel is backed with an adhered framing device made from thin hardwood battens with mitred corners, possibly made when the picture was exhibited in 1905. ⁷

It is in generally sound condition despite a split at the lower right corner, and drying cracks and paint loss along the grain, with some retouching. ⁸

Frame

The Rose Scarf, The Hunterian

The Rose Scarf, frame detail

Whistlerian flat frame, dating from the 1920s, size 51.2 x 43.1 x 6.5 cm. ⁹

History

Provenance

• 1903: in Whistler's studio at his death, and bequeathed to his ward and executrix, Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958);
• 1935: given by Miss R. Birnie Philip to the University of Glasgow.

Exhibitions

• 1905: Œuvres de James McNeill Whistler, Palais de l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1905 (cat. no. 32) as 'The Rose Scarf'.

As far as is known, it was not exhibited in Whistler's lifetime, but was first shown in the Memorial exhibition in Paris in 1905.

When it was shown at Colnaghi's in London in 1915, it received a favourable reception. The Observer, in a generally critical review, singled it out as among 'a few things of supreme quality.' ¹⁰ Sir Claude Phillips (1846-1924) thought it exceptional:

' "L'Echarpe Rose", a study more serious than the title would suggest, is an exception in the exhibition, and, indeed, in the life-work of the painter. The wearer of the diaphanous pink scarf from which the drawing takes its name, is a woman handsome, but worn, fretful, almost phthisical of aspect, with something of tragedy, too, in her eager, interrogating look.' ¹¹

Owing to the terms of Miss R. Birnie Philip's gift to the University of Glasgow, it is not lendable.

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. 390), plate 268, as 'The Rose Scarf'.

Authored by Whistler

• None.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• Œuvres de James McNeill Whistler, Palais de l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1905 (cat. no. 32) as 'L'écharpe rose' ('The Rose Scarf').

Journals 1855-1905

• None.

Monographs

• None.

Books on Whistler

• Spencer, Robin (ed.), Whistler: A Retrospective, New York, 1989, p. 310, repr. pl. 99.
• Sutton, Denys, Nocturne: The Art of James McNeill Whistler, London, 1963, repr. f.p. 116.
• Young, Andrew McLaren, James McNeill Whistler, Milan, 1963, repr. pl. XV.

Books, General

• None.

Catalogues 1906-Present

• Loan Exhibition of Works by James McNeill Whistler to aid the Professional Classes War Relief Council, Messrs Colnaghi, London, 1915 (cat. no. 34).
• James McNeill Whistler, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, 1936 (cat. no. 15).

Journals 1906-Present

• None.

Newspapers 1906-Present

• Anon., 'Unexpected Whistlers', The Glasgow Herald, Glasgow, 1 June 1915.
• Anon., 'Art and Artists. A Whistler Exhibition', The Observer, London, 6 June 1915.
• Anon., 'The Whistler Loan Exhibition', Westminster Gazette, London, 7 June 1915, p. 3.

Websites

• The Hunterian website at http://collections.gla.ac.uk/#/details/ecatalogue/41131.
• Art UK website at https://artuk.org.

Unpublished

• Revillon, Joseph Whistler, Draft Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings of J. McN. Whistler, [ca 1945-1955], Glasgow University Library (cat. no. 174).

Other

• None.