The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Vert et or: Le Raconteur dates from the late 1890s, between 1896 and 1900. ¹

Vert et or: Le Raconteur, Freer Gallery of Art

"Le Raconteur" / The boy with mischievous face - hand and thumb / Brother of the boy with cloak', was seen by Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919) in Whistler's studio in 1903. ²

Images

Subject

Titles

Variations on the title have been suggested, as follows:

• 'La Raconteur' (1903, C. L. Freer). ³
• ' "Vert et Or" (le Raconteur)' (1904, Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts). ⁴
• 'Green and Gold: – Tom' (1904, R. Birnie Philip). ⁵
• 'Green and Gold. Tom' (1904, J. Connell). ⁶
• 'Vert et or: Le Raconteur' (1980, YMSM). ⁷
• 'Vert et Or: Le Raconteur (Green and Gold: The Storyteller)' (2019, Freer Gallery of Art). ⁸

'Vert et or: Le Raconteur', the preferred title, is based on the 1904 exhibition title, with punctuation regularised.

Description

Vert et or: Le Raconteur, Freer Gallery of Art

A half-length portrait of a boy, in vertical format. His face is in three-quarter view to right, and he smiles slightly as he looks at the viewer; his brown hair is parted in the centre. He wears a black cloak over a grey jacket and scarf, and a shirt buttoned to the neck, but no collar. His left hand holds on to the edge of his cloak at right.

Sitter

When C. L. Freer recorded seeing 'Le Raconteur' in Whistler's studio in 1903, he identified the boy as the brother of the two models who sat for The Boy in a Cloak y512 and The Little Faustina y510. His record of the portraits presumably reflects information given by the artist, and is as follows:

' "Le Raconteur" / The boy with mischievous face - hand and thumb / Brother of the boy with cloak

"Comment tu t'appelle"/ The marvellous little girl full face - eyes looking into futurity - her two little hands folded and at rest in her lap -/ Sister of the boy in cloak and of the Raconteur

Asked to be held for C L F

Mr George Vanderbilt to have the little boy with fine eyes . brother ... of the Raconteur - And the same boy painted in the "Boy in the cloak" ' ⁹

Freer did indeed buy the 'Raconteur' (in 1905) and The Little Faustina y510 (in 1909). George Washington Vanderbilt (1862-1914) on the other hand did not buy one of these family portraits. In 1906 Freer wrote to William Herbert Bixby (1849-1928) 'I believe Whistler really was the most successful of all known painters of children.' ¹⁰

The name 'Tom' was also ascribed, probably incorrectly, to the sitter for Girl in Black y470 in 1910.

Technique

Technique

Vert et or: Le Raconteur, Freer Gallery of Art

Painted fluidly with thin paint on absorbent canvas. It was rubbed down in many areas (particularly the face) as part of the painting process, softening the transition between light and shadow.

Conservation History

It was noted in 1921 that it appeared very porous around the face and hands. It was relined and resurfaced in 1925, surfaced in 1933, resurfaced in 1937, cleaned and surfaced in 1935 and 1951. In 1965 Ben Johnson noted that it was dirty and the varnish was discoloured, and it was again cleaned, revarnished and restretched. ¹¹

Frame

Vert et or: Le Raconteur, Freer Gallery of Art

Grau-style frame, dating from the late 1890s. ¹²

History

Provenance

• 1903: in Whistler's studio at his death and bequeathed to his ward and executrix, Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958);
• 1905: bought from Miss Birnie Philip by Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919), Detroit;
• 1919: bequeathed by C. L. Freer to the Freer Gallery of Art.

Miss R. Birnie Philip may have offered the painting for sale as 'Green and Gold: – Tom' to Robert Dunthorne (1850-1925), a London dealer, on 14 May 1904 for 600 guineas. ¹³ It may also have been on sale in Glasgow, where it was exhibited by a local art dealer, James Connell, possibly in 1904 (cat. no. 73A).

In August 1904 Freer wrote to Miss R. Birnie Philip, 'I sympathize with the disappointment felt by the would-be-buyer of "The Raconteur"… The bright and amusing thoughts of the amazing boy shining through his mischievous eyes.' ¹⁴ The sale to C. L. Freer, implied in this note, was confirmed in September 1905, for £1000.

Exhibitions

• 1904: Ouvrages de Peintures, Sculpture, Dessin, Gravure, Architecture et Objets d'Art, 14th exhibition, Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1904 (cat. no. 1317) as ' "Vert et Or" (le Raconteur)'.
• 1904: Etchings and Lithographs by James McNeill Whistler, James Connell & Sons, Glasgow, [1904] (cat. no. 73A) as 'Green and Gold. Tom'.

It was not, as far as is known, exhibited in Whistler's lifetime.

The painting was included in an exhibition at the galleries of James Connell & Sons in 31 Renfield Street, Glasgow, possibly in 1904. ¹⁵

By the terms of C. L. Freer's bequest to the Freer Gallery of Art, the painting cannot be lent to another venue.

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. 513), plate 328, as 'Vert et or: Le Raconteur'.

Authored by Whistler

• None.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• Ouvrages de Peintures, Sculpture, Dessin, Gravure, Architecture et Objets d'Art, 14th exhibition, Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1904 (cat. no. 1317) as ' "Vert et Or" (le Raconteur)'.
• Etchings and Lithographs by James McNeill Whistler, James Connell & Sons, Glasgow, [1904] (cat. no. 73A) as 'Green and Gold. Tom'.

Journals 1855-1905

• Hamel, Maurice, 'Les Salons de 1904, Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts', Les Arts, no. 29, May 1904, pp. 12-23, at p. 18.

Monographs

• None.

Books on Whistler

• Adams, Arron, James Whistler: His Palette, 2016.
• Eddy, Arthur Jerome, Recollections and Impressions of James A. McNeill Whistler, Philadelphia and London, 1903, pp. 273-74.

Books, General

• Franklin Kelly, American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogues Series, Washington, DC, 1998, vol. 2, p. 255.

Catalogues 1906-Present

EXHIBITIONS:

• Paintings in oil and pastel by James McNeill Whistler, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1910 (cat. no. 40).
• Inaugural Exhibition, Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH, 1912 (cat. no. 102).

COLLECTION:

• Stubbs, Burns A., Paintings, Pastels, Drawings, Prints and Copper Plates by and attributed to American and European Artists, together with a List of Original Whistleriana in the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1948, p. 15 (05.235).
• Curry, David Park, James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art, New York and London, 1984, pp. 148, 295, pl. 56.

Journals 1906-Present

• None.

Newspapers 1906-Present

• Detroit Free Press, Detroit, 5 April 1910, p. 5.

Websites

• Freer Gallery of Art website at https://asia.si.edu/object/F1905.235a-b.

Unpublished

• Revillon, Joseph Whistler, Draft Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings of J. McN. Whistler, [ca 1945-1955], Glasgow University Library (cat. no. 306).

Other

• Caffin, Charles Henry, The Art of James McNeill Whistler: Lecture at the Detroit Museum of Art. Detroit, 23 April 1909, p. 40.
• Parkerson, Sarah Lawrence, Variations in Gold: The Stylistic Development of the Picture Frames used by James McNeill Whistlers, PhD thesis, University of Glasgow, 2007.