The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

The Priest's Lodging, Dieppe is difficult to date, partly because it was not completed or signed. However, the technique – as far as it goes – suggests a date in the late 1890s. The subject has long been associated with Dieppe, and therefore the date suggested (between 1896 and 1899) is primarily based on Whistler's known visits to Dieppe. ¹ He visited Dieppe fairly often, partly because it was the port for ferries to and from the UK.

1896: After the death of his wife in 1896, Whistler travelled to the continent. He was in Dieppe in September, but complained: 'I don't think I shall stay - There is nothing much in the place - and it either pours or [is] cold … I don't see much use in struggling with work out of doors.' ² And later in the same month he reported on his lack of progress:

'The work I have no success with! … Today was really fine - and at one moment I thought I had a wonderful picture - but no! - and how I lost it I scarcely can explain - though I do really know - which doesn't make it any better! - Of course it is ridiculous to have come here in this haste & to leave in this hurry! ... Here, this is the last day - and on this day only do I find what I want both in picture and place in which to paint it - and - What's the use! - Nobody ever yet painted with a trunk packed and one leg in the train! Rubbish - But isn't it funny - that I always do find what I want - There is, in this, perhaps something reassuring.' ³

The Priest's Lodging, Dieppe, The Hunterian

1897: Joseph Pennell (1860-1926) remembered that when he was in Dieppe with Whistler, in 1897, the artist had hardly arrived when 'he was in the street hunting for a little shop front he remembered'. ⁴ Perhaps this was the ideal spot mentioned in his letter of the previous year.

1897-1899: Whistler spent part of the summer in the Dieppe area, with or without his in-laws, the Birnie Philips, and the painting may date from one of these trips.

Images

Subject

Titles

Whistler's own title is not known for certain. The later title probably comes from his sister-in-law:

• 'The Priest's Lodging, Dieppe' (n.d., R. Birnie Philip). ⁵
• 'The Priest's Lodging, Dieppe' (1960, Arts Council). ⁶
• 'Das Haus des Priesters, Dieppe' (1969, Nationalgalerie, Berlin). ⁷
• The Priest's Lodging, Dieppe (1980, YMSM). ⁸

'The Priest's Lodging, Dieppe' is the generally accepted title.

Description

The Priest's Lodging, Dieppe, The Hunterian

A house front, painted in horizontal format. A cobbled street and narrow pavement are indicated in the foreground. To left of centre is a grey door with four small rectangular panes of glass above the door. At left is a window with white and pale green chequered shutters, and originally, in front of this, stood a woman in a black dress, and perhaps a child, but these have been partially painted over. On the other side of the door is a grey panel, possibly a shutter, and then a wide window with small panes, all tinted green. Below the windows the wall is painted a brownish mauve, with a dark square object, possibly a box or bucket, under the larger window at right.

Site

Andrew McLaren Young (1913-1975) suggested that A Shop y376 and The Priest's Lodging, Dieppe y482 were painted in Dieppe at the same time. ⁹

Whistler was frequently in or passing through Dieppe, a busy port and ferry terminal, with lengthy stays in 1885, and in 1896-1898. He described it in 1896 as 'a lovely place.' ¹⁰ However, a few days later he complained: 'The work I have no success with! ... this is the last day - and on this day only do I find what I want both in picture and place in which to paint it.' ¹¹

Alternatively, if the 'Dieppe' of the title is incorrect, The Priest's Lodging of the title suggests that it could be related to a lithograph drawn in Rouen in 1894, The Priest's House, Rouen c105, although this was not an image Whistler liked: when it was printed he called it 'a dull mealy tiresome thing, ... Please destroy it at once.' ¹²

Another (fairly remote) possibility is a subject hinted at in October 1899 when Whistler, writing from Paris, mentioned that painting in 'Cathedral corners' had made him ill:

'It really is an awful business this neuralgia! … & of course as usual I deserved what I brought upon myself! for I sat, and continued to sit for three of four days running in Cathedral corners … It was the only way of bringing back the panels - and now I have brought back a very beautifully developed form of neuralgia called Zona.' ¹³

But what cathedral corners?

Technique

Technique

The Priest's Lodging, Dieppe, The Hunterian

It is on a single section of timber that is about 1 cm thick. The grain runs horizontally across the picture.

The brushstrokes of the pale grey priming are visible through the thin paint. Indeed the grey ground forms part of the colour scheme. It is barely tinted with suggestions of other colours, beige and green in the windows, and brown above. It was also rubbed down by the artist during the process of painting. The figures on the left have been half painted over by the window frame. It is one of the most subtle and delicate of Whistler's house-fronts.

Conservation History

It was cleaned and revarnished by John Bull for Agnew's in 1980, but it is not known if it was retouched at that time. The varnish is a little glossy, with fine craquelure. The wood has warped very slightly but the panel is basically in good condition. ¹⁴

Frame

40.0 x 47.6 x 3.1 cm.

History

Provenance

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

Exhibitions

• Unknown.

As far as is known, this 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. 482), plate 304, as 'The Priest's Lodging, Dieppe'.

Authored by Whistler

• None.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• None.

Journals 1855-1905

• None.

Monographs

• None.

Books on Whistler

• Anderson, Ronald, and Ann Koval, James McNeill Whistler: Beyond the Myth, London, 1994, p. 418.
• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Life of James McNeill Whistler, 2 vols, London and Philadelphia, 1908, vol. 2, p. 195.
• Spencer, Robin (ed.), Whistler: A Retrospective, New York, 1989, repr. pl. 117.

Books, General

• None.

Catalogues 1906-Present

COLLECTION:

• Allan, Christopher J., A Guidebook to the Hunterian Art Gallery of the University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Hunterian Art Gallery, University of Glasgow, 1991, p. 15, repr.
• James McNeill Whistler: selected works from the Hunterian Art Gallery, Glasgow, 2004 (cat. no. 10).

EXHIBITION:

• Loan Exhibition of Works by James McNeill Whistler to aid the Professional Classes War Relief Council, Messrs Colnaghi, London, 1915 (cat. no. 26) as 'Vert et Gris: A Shop, Dieppe'.
• Young, A. McLaren, James McNeill Whistler, Arts Council Gallery, London, and Knoedler Galleries, New York, 1960 (cat. no. 57) as 'The Priest's Lodging, Dieppe'.
• Spencer, Robin, James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903), Nationalgalerie, Berlin, 1969 (cat. no. 54) as 'Das Haus des Priesters, Dieppe'.
• Pickvance, Ronald, James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903): An Exhibition of Works from the University of Glasgow Collection, Nottingham University Art Gallery, Nottingham, 1970 (cat. no. 130).
• Vienna Secession: Art nouveau to 1970, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1971.
• Glasgow University's Pictures, London, Colnaghi, 1973 (cat. no. 106) repr. pl. 56.
• ホイスラー展. Whistler Exhibition in Japan, Isetan Museum of Art, Tokyo; Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, Sapporo; Shizuoka Prefectural Museum, Shizuoka, 1986 (cat. no. 38).
• Les figures d'Elstir. Proust et le Peintre, Abbaye aux Dames, Caen, 1993, pp. 64-65, repr.
• James McNeill Whistler: selected works from the Hunterian Art Gallery, Glasgow, 2004: toured to Dixon Gallery, Taft Museum of Art, Philbrook Museum of Art, Boca Raton Museum of Art, Taylor Museum of the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, Nevada Museum of Art, and Tyler Museum of Art, 2004-2007 (cat. no. 10).
• Ayako Ono, ホイッスラー展. James McNeill Whistler Retrospective, National Museum of Modern Art, Kyōto, 2014, and Yokohama Museum of Art, 2014–2015 (cat. no. 90).

Journals 1906-Present

• None.

Websites

• The Hunterian website at http://collections.gla.ac.uk/#/details/ecatalogue/41294.
• Art UK website at https://artuk.org.

Unpublished

• None.

Other

• None.