The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

YMSM 449
The Little Rose of Lyme Regis

The Little Rose of Lyme Regis

Artist: James McNeill Whistler
Date: 1895
Collection: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Accession Number: 96.950
Medium: oil
Support: canvas
Size: 51.43 x 31.11 cm (20 1/4 x 12 1/4")
Signature: butterfly
Inscription: none

Date

The Little Rose of Lyme Regis dates from between October and November 1895 during Whistler's sojourn in Lyme Regis, Dorset. 1

The Little Rose of Lyme Regis, Boston Museum of Fine Arts
The Little Rose of Lyme Regis, Boston Museum of Fine Arts

On 2 November 1895 the art dealer David Croal Thomson (1855-1930) thanked Whistler for having shown him 'The Rose':

'The artistic treat of seeing the Royalties of Lyme Regis was one never to be forgotten. The Master Smith, The Rose, The Infanta & the other princess are indelibly impressed on my memory & I cannot too warmly speak of their gorgeous colour, their exquisite style & harmony.' 2

In June 1896 Whistler wrote to Edward Guthrie Kennedy (1849-1932), New York dealer, 'I will try and put the few finishing touches on the "Little Rose" without spoiling the picture for you.' 3 However, there is no evidence that he did work on it again.

Images

The Little Rose of Lyme Regis, Boston Museum of Fine Arts
The Little Rose of Lyme Regis, Boston Museum of Fine Arts

The Little Rose of Lyme Regis, photograph, 1980
The Little Rose of Lyme Regis, photograph, 1980

Subject

Titles

Several possible titles have been suggested:

'The Little Rose of Lyme Regis' is the preferred title.

Description

The Little Rose of Lyme Regis, Boston Museum of Fine Arts
The Little Rose of Lyme Regis, Boston Museum of Fine Arts

A half-length portrait of a girl facing the viewer, in vertical format. Her hands are clasped in her lap. Her long brown hair falls forward over her left ear and is drawn back behind her right ear. She wears a red pinafore over a dark blouse.

Sitter

Rosa Beatrice Rendall (1886-1958), the daughter of George John Rendall (1853-1921), Mayor and Alderman of Lyme Regis. 8 She was nine years old. She became a draper's assistant in Exeter, Devon, and in 1914 married Ernest Aubrey Herridge, a gentleman's outfitter, of St Leonards, Exeter. She died in 1958, and her husband died in 1963.

It is possible she also posed to Arthur Haythorne Studd (1863-1919) in Lyme Regis. Studd (whom Whistler called 'Peter') stayed briefly in Lyme Regis while Whistler was there, and Whistler wrote later to his wife:

'You must make Peter show you his things - and then tell me if after all the effect of the studio upon him is not remarkable - Especially look at the head of the little Rosie ... & think of what he had been about, & then tell me if you dreamed such work could have been done by him?' 9

Comments

The Boston Museum of Fine Arts website comments:

'He created this beautiful image, one of a series of tonal portraits challenging the sentimentality of Victorian portrayals of children, near the end of his career ... the portrait of eight-year-old Rosie Randall, daughter of the town’s mayor, was not a commission but one of a small group of studies Whistler undertook as a tribute to the children he called “the little Lyme Regis maidens.” Whistler portrays Rosie gazing directly at the viewer, nervously clasping her hands. She wears a red pinafore over a black dress and emerges from a dark background. The artist applied thin layers of paint to create this soft, diffuse likeness, which eloquently captures the innocence and vulnerability of childhood.' 10

Technique

Technique

The Little Rose of Lyme Regis, Boston Museum of Fine Arts
The Little Rose of Lyme Regis, Boston Museum of Fine Arts

Whistler made few alterations in painting this portrait although the outline of the hair has been changed. The Boston Museum website notes: 'She wears a red pinafore over a black dress and emerges from a dark background. The artist applied thin layers of paint to create this soft, diffuse likeness...' 11

Pennell reported Whistler as saying that in this portrait and The Master Smith of Lyme Regis y450 'he had really solved the problem of carrying on his work as he wished to until it was finished.' 12

Conservation History

The Little Rose of Lyme Regis, photograph, 1980
The Little Rose of Lyme Regis, photograph, 1980

The Little Rose of Lyme Regis, Boston Museum of Fine Arts
The Little Rose of Lyme Regis, Boston Museum of Fine Arts

The Museum of Fine Arts records it as having been cleaned in 1944 and 1948 and relined and surface cleaned in February 1964.

History

Provenance

According to Wunderlich, Whistler agreed with their representative, E. G. Kennedy, to sell them this painting and The Master Smith of Lyme Regis y450 as well as Rose et or: La Tulipe y418 or Harmony in Black: Portrait of Miss Ethel Philip y419 for £1500. 13

The Little Rose of Lyme Regis was sold by the Wunderlich Galleries to the Museum of Fine Arts, together with The Master Smith of Lyme Regis y450, for $7,200 (Accession Date: 11 January 1896). Edward Guthrie Kennedy (1849-1932) of Wunderlich's, who arranged the sale, was gently reprimanded for not having told Whistler. 14

Exhibitions

Bibliography

Catalogues Raisonnés

Authored by Whistler

Catalogues 1855-1905

Newspapers 1855-1905

Journals 1855-1905

Monographs

Books on Whistler

Books, General

Catalogues 1906-Present

Journals 1906-Present

Websites

Unpublished

Other


Notes:

1: YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 449).

2: GUW #05827.

3: [28 June 1896], GUW #09761.

4: D. C Thomson to Whistler, 2 November 1895, GUW #05827.

5: [28 June 1896], GUW #09761.

6: Oil Paintings, Water Colors, Pastels and Drawings: Memorial Exhibition of the Works of Mr. J. McNeill Whistler, Copley Society, Boston, 1904 (cat. no. 43).

7: YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 449).

8: Note by Miss R. Birnie Philip, GUL Whistler BP III B/9.

9: J. McN. Whistler to B. Whistler, [10 November 1895], GUW #06635.

10: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, website at http://www.mfa.org.

11: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, website at http://www.mfa.org.

12: Pennell 1908 [more], vol. 2, p. 166.

13: H. Wunderlich & Co. to Whistler, 4 September 1896, GUW #07280; also note by E. G. Kennedy, 23 May 1897, GUW #09768; and Kennedy to Whistler, a/c 24 September 1897, #07287.

14: Whistler to Kennedy, [10 April 1897], GUW #09762.