The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Rose and Brown: The Philosopher dates from between 1896 and 1897.

Rose and Brown: The Philosopher, private collection

A portrait of Charles Edward Holloway (1838-1897), it was painted in Whistler's Fitzroy Street studio about 1896. ¹ According to the Art Journal, it was painted in the winter of 1896-1897. ² According to the artist Albert Ludovici, Jr (1852-1932), it was started in numerous lengthy sittings shortly before the death of the sitter on 5 March 1897. ³

Images

Subject

Titles

Several possible titles have been suggested:

• 'The Philosopher' (1897, Goupil). ⁵
• 'Rose et gris; – le philosophe (portrait)' (1897, Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts). ⁶
• 'Rose and Brown, The Philosopher' (1897, Society of Portrait Painters). ⁷
• 'The Philosopher' and 'The Philosopher / Portrait of C. E. Holloway, Esq.'' (1905, ISSPG). ⁸
• 'Rose and Brown: The Philosopher' (1980, YMSM). ⁹

'Rose and Brown: The Philosopher' is the preferred title.

Description

Rose and Brown: The Philosopher, private collection

A small full-length portrait of a bearded elderly man in a greatcoat, standing in an interior. It is in vertical format. He has a grey beard and stands in three-quarter view to right. There is a fireplace behind him, to left, and a pale greyish/ochre wall further away, to right.

Sitter

Charles Edward Holloway (1838-1897). According to Thomas Robert Way (1861-1913), Whistler admired Holloway's large watercolour Gorleston Harbour, painted in 1879, and met the watercolourist in 1880. ¹⁰ Albert Ludovici mentioned that they met in 1896, but this was probably incorrect. ¹¹ The posthumous exhibition of Holloway's watercolours held at Goupil's in 1897 included Whistler's portrait of Holloway and many of Holloway's recent Venetian subjects, and a number of works with rather Whistlerian titles, such as A Harmony in Grey (cat. no. 40).

Technique

Technique

Rose and Brown: The Philosopher, private collection

Thinly painted, with signs of rubbing down, which was part of the artist's painting process.

Conservation History

Rose and Brown: The Philosopher, photograph, 1980

Unknown.

Frame

Unknown.

History

Provenance

• 1898/1903: sold by Georges Petit, Paris art dealer, to Beatrice Winans (Comtesse de Béarn) (1884-1907);
• 1907: after her death, passed by family descent to Octave Marie Hubert de Ganay, Marquis de Ganay (1888-1974);
• 1974: after his death, passed by family descent to a private collector.

After the memorial exhibition of Holloway's watercolours at the Goupil Gallery in February 1897, where it was shown (but not catalogued) it was returned to Whistler, but by the following month David Croal Thomson (1855-1930) of the Goupil Gallery wanted to show it to a 'customer' and Whistler agreed. ¹² Possibly the negotiations were a reason for Whistler to withdraw his exhibits from the Salon de la Société Nationale de Beaux-Arts, as Le Figaro reported. ¹³ Shortly after that, on 21 May 1897, Whistler wrote to the New York art dealer, Edward Guthrie Kennedy (1849-1932), from Paris, ' "the Philosopher"- the little Holloway is carried off to London - to be placed.' ¹⁴ However, it appears still to have been in Whistler's hands and available for exhibition a year later. After the ISSPG show of 1898 it was returned to Whistler's business outlet, the Company of the Butterfly, and he told Christine Anderson (Christiana Barrett, Mrs C. L. Baldwyn, Mrs C. A. M. Anderson) (b. 1865/1866) that if Arthur Jerome Eddy (1859-1920) called, 'Then you could say that the little Philosopher, might go to him for £280 - though the price is 300 gs.' ¹⁵

It is said to have been acquired through Georges Petit, shortly before Whistler's death, by the Comtesse de Béarn, Paris, and passed by family succession to the Comte de Ganay.

Exhibitions

• 1897: Watercolour Drawings by C.E. Holloway, Goupil Gallery, London, 1897 (not catalogued) as 'The Philosopher'.
• 1897: Exposition Nationale des Beaux-Arts, 7th exhibition, Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Champs de Mars, Paris, 1897 (cat. no. 1258) as 'Rose et gris; – le philosophe (portrait)' (intended for exhibition but not sent).
• 1897: 7th exhibition, Society of Portrait Painters, London, 1897 (cat. no. 11) as 'Rose and Brown, The Philosopher'.
• 1898: Exhibition of International Art, International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers, Knightsbridge, London, 1898 (cat. no. 181) de luxe edition, repr. f.p. 108.
• 1905: Memorial Exhibition of the Works of the late James McNeill Whistler, First President of The International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers, New Gallery, Regent Street, London, 1905 (cat. no. 96) as 'The Philosopher' and, in deluxe edition, as 'The Philosopher / Portrait of C. E. Holloway, Esq.'
• 1905: Œuvres de James McNeill Whistler, Palais de l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1905 (cat. no. 30) as 'The Philosopher'.

It was exhibited several times shortly after the death of the sitter, starting with the memorial exhibition of Holloway's watercolours at the Goupil Gallery.

Arrangement of paintings at the ISSPG, Library of Congress

In 1898 Whistler suggested a possible arrangement for his pictures at the ISSPG, where he showed a mixture of early and recent work: The Thames in Ice y036, Grey and Silver: La Petite Souris y502, At the Piano y024, Arrangement in Brown and Black: Portrait of Miss Rosa Corder y203, La Princesse du pays de la porcelaine y050, Rose and Brown: The Philosopher y472, Blue and Coral: The Little Blue Bonnet y500, Nocturne in Blue and Gold: Valparaiso Bay y076, and, at the last minute, Gold and Brown y462. ¹⁶

Arrangement of paintings at the ISSPG, Library of Congress

Furthermore, he instructed Albert Ludovici, Jr (1852-1932) in detail:

[sketch of pictures upon wall, numbered left to right:] '6 5 4 1. 3 2. 7. 8 9' [and three frames numbered:] '10.'

'1. Rosa Corder. 2. Princess. 3. Portrait. 4. Piano. 5. Oval. 6. Thames in ice. 7. Philosopher. 8. Nocturne Valparaiso. 9. Petite Souris (girls head with feather boa) 10. "Etchings by Mrs McNeill Whistler".

Or [sketch of pictures numbered left to right:] 2 10 7. 8 9. Yes this * last way I prefer - and it gives you no trouble - Hang all my pictures on the line - excepting the Holloway (Philosopher) just a tiny bit up to make the line pretty - and perhaps the Petite Souris - also slightly - a matter for your eye - And be sure to see to the proper tilting over - so that can be well seen ... Hang nothing under any of the pictures.' ¹⁷

After all this effort, this particular painting received mixed reviews, admired, for instance, as the 'indescribably subtle likeness of a man' by the Pall Mall Gazette on 16 May 1898 but disliked by The Builder of 21 May.

Filippo Grimani (1850-1921) requested it for exhibition in the III Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte della Città di Venezia, Venice, 1899, but it is not known if it was exhibited. ¹⁸

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. 472), plate 305, as 'Rose and Brown: The Philosopher'.

Authored by Whistler

• None.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• Watercolour Drawings by C. E. Holloway, Goupil Gallery, London, 1897 (not catalogued) as 'The Philosopher'.
• Exposition nationale des Beaux-Arts: Catalogue Illustré de peinture, sculpture et gravure exposés au Champ-de-Mars, Paris, 1897 (cat. no. 1258) as 'Rose et gris; – le philosophe (portrait)'.
• 7th exhibition, Society of Portrait Painters, London, 1897 (cat. no. 11) as 'Rose and Brown, The Philosopher'.
• Exhibition of International Art, International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers, Knightsbridge, London, 1898 (cat. no. 181) de luxe edition, repr. f.p. 108.
• Memorial Exhibition of the Works of the late James McNeill Whistler, First President of The International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers, New Gallery, Regent Street, London, 1905 (cat. no. 96) as 'The Philosopher', and, in deluxe edition, as 'The Philosopher / Portrait of C. E. Holloway, Esq., repr. f.p. 108.
• Œuvres de James McNeill Whistler, Palais de l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1905 (cat. no. 30) as 'The Philosopher'.

Newspapers 1855-1905

• Anon., 'The International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers', Pall Mall Gazette, London, 16 May 1898, pp. 1-2.

Journals 1855-1905

• Anon., 'London Exhibitions in March', The Art Journal, April 1897, pp. 126-27, at p. 127.
• Way, Thomas R., 'Passing events: Obituary', The Art Journal, 1897, Supplement, p. viii.
• The Builder, 21 May 1898, p. 488.
• Dartmouth, Thomas, 'International Art at Knightsbridge', The Art Journal, August 1898, pp. 249-53, repr. in situ in exh., p. 249.

Monographs

• None.

Books on Whistler

• Cary, Elizabeth Luther, The Works of James McNeill Whistler: A Study, with a Tentative List of Artist’s Works, New York, 1907, p. 189 (cat. no. 194).
• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Life of James McNeill Whistler, 2 vols, London and Philadelphia, 1908, vol. 2, pp. 172, 187-88, repr. f.p. 188.
• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Whistler Journal, Philadelphia, 1921, p. 111.
• Sickert, Bernhard, Whistler, London and New York, 1908, p. 166 (cat. no. 113).
• Sutherland, Daniel E., Whistler: A Life for Art's Sake, New Haven and London, 2014, pp. 298, 309.
• Way, Thomas Robert, and G. R. Dennis, The Art of James McNeill Whistler: An Appreciation, 1st edition, London, 1903, p. 50.
• Way, Thomas Robert, Memories of James McNeill Whistler, the Artist, London and New York, 1912, pp. 129-30, 143-44.

Books, General

• Ludovici, Anthony, An Artist's Life in London and Paris 1870-1925, New York, 1926, pp. 93-94, 99.

Catalogues 1906-Present

• Young, A. McLaren, James McNeill Whistler, Arts Council Gallery, London, and Knoedler Galleries, New York, 1960 (cat. no. 67).

Journals 1906-Present

• None.

Websites

• None.

Unpublished

• Revillon, Joseph Whistler, Draft Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings of J. McN. Whistler, [ca 1945-1955], Glasgow University Library (cat. no. 220).

Other

• None.