The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Portrait of Mrs William Heinemann dates from between 1900 and 1902. ¹

1899: The sitter’s husband, the London publisher William Heinemann (1863-1920), commissioned a portrait of his wife Magda Stuart Sindici (Mrs W. Heinemann) (b. 1878, m. 1899). In May or June Whistler wrote to Heinemann: 'Tell your wife, with my best compliments, ... that I will think out an Oval of herself that shall embody our indignation at neglected Beauty and Genius!!' ²

1900: The portrait was probably started in Paris in 1900. When a sitting was postponed, Whistler wrote to Mrs Heinemann:

'I have just read your note ... and I can assure you that I also was hugely disappointed ...

I had prepared everything - and was in the best of moods ...

I did so want to cover that canvas entirely today! - I cannot say about Saturday yet - but if you like, we might have a good couple of hours on Friday - if you appear at a quarter past 2. in the afternoon?' ³

1901: The portrait may have been continued in England. On 5 November 1901 Whistler asked his sisters-in-law, Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958) and Ethel Whibley (1861-1920), to send some curtains he was using as a background from 110 rue du Bac, Paris, to him in London, adding that 'besides the Violet curtains I should like the pair of green that belong to the Atelier ... they are the background to Cowan's picture - & to Mrs Vanderbilts & Mr Heinemann's too.' ⁴ In December he wrote from Bath to Mrs Heinemann,

‘I trust you are in buoyant spirits and satisfied with your beauty? the bella Mafia is so exacting! -

I think of coming up again on Monday - and we might perhaps, if it pleases, find a sitting or two for the Oval - in that dress, or another - ? What do you think.' ⁵

1902: According to the Pennells, Whistler 'was anxious to continue the portrait started a year or so before of Mrs. Heinemann, a lovely harmony which needed for its completion only a few more sittings, but ... these could not be arranged.' ⁶

Instead, Heinemann turned to another artist. On 23 June 1902 Leandro R. Garrido (1869–1909) wrote that ‘Mr. Heinemann proposes I should stay with him in Wimbledon in August and ... paint his wife’s portrait. It seems Whistler has been on that job for the last two years and keeps her posing from 9 to 5 p.m.’ ⁷

However, occasional sittings with Whistler continued. According to Pennell, at a dinner party on 29 November 1902 Whistler arranged with Mrs Heinemann for a sitting the following Tuesday. ⁸ At some time, probably in 1902, when Heinemann told Whistler his wife could not come to pose, the artist replied,

'Pity! - for I meant the picture to be beautiful - as it has every right to be! - and the Arrangement is so new! -

... the hand is stayed - and the work ceases - for the joy of it has gone! and the mystery of it has flown forever!' ⁹

1903: By this time the Heinemanns had parted (Heinemann filed for divorce in the following year). On 6 February Whistler mentioned the portrait to the Pennells: ‘She has not come to sit and have her portrait finished, which is crime enough for any thing.’ ¹⁰

Images

Subject

Titles

Possible titles include:

• ‘bella Mafia’ (1901, Whistler). ¹¹
• 'portrait of Mrs. Heinemann' (1921, Pennell). ¹²
• 'Portrait of Mrs William Heinemann' (1980, YMSM). ¹³

Description

An oval portrait. When Heinemann told Whistler his wife could not come to pose, the artist replied, 'Pity! - for I meant the picture to be beautiful ... and the Arrangement is so new!' ¹⁴ But what exactly was 'new' is not known.

Sitter

Magda Heinemann, photograph, Bookman, 1899

Magda Stuart Sindici (Mrs W. Heinemann) (b. 1878, m. 1899) was born about 1875.

Whistler’s association with William Heinemann (1863-1920) began with the publication of The Gentle Art of Making Enemies in 1890, the year in which Heinemann founded the publishing firm that bears his name. In 1899, Whistler congratulated Heinemann on his engagement to ‘the beautiful Principessa Donna ... the most fair and dainty Donna!’ ¹⁵ She was a writer and had published a novel, Via Lucis, under the pseudonym Kassandra Vivaria, with Heinemann’s firm. In February 1899 Whistler was best man at Heinemann’s wedding to Magda Stuart Sindici in Porto D‘Anzio, her home in Italy.

Whistler also made Designs for monograms for William and Magda Heinemann m1534. The Heinemanns were extremely hospitable and Whistler, who had lived for some time with Heinemann at 4 Whitehall Court from 1896 on, continued to visit the couple when they moved to Norfolk Street, Mayfair. He was, for instance, staying with them in May 1900. ¹⁶ However, William and Magda Heinemann parted in 1902; he sued for divorce in 1903 and it was granted in the following year. ¹⁷

Technique

Technique

The Widow, private collection

The portrait was an oval and is likely to have been similar in size to other ovals by Whistler, such as The Widow y459 at 58.4 x 44.5 cm, Harmony in Rose and Green: Carmen y507 at 57.8 x 44.5 cm or Ivoire et or: Portrait de Madame Vanderbilt y515 at 66 x 54.6 cm.

Conservation History

Unknown.

Frame

Unknown.

History

Provenance

Unknown.

Exhibitions

It 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. 531) as 'Portrait of Mrs William Heinemann', photo of sitter plate 436.

Authored by Whistler

• None.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• None.

Journals 1855-1905

• None.

Monographs

• None.

Books on Whistler

• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Life of James McNeill Whistler, 2 vols, London and Philadelphia, 1908, vol. 2, pp. 208, 291-92.
• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Whistler Journal, Philadelphia, 1921, pp. 38-39, 45, 265, 276.
• Sutherland, Daniel E., Whistler: A Life for Art's Sake, New Haven and London, 2014, p. 334.

Books, General

• Quigley, J., Leandro Ramon Garrido: His Life and Art, London, 1913, p. 79.

Catalogues 1906-Present

• None.

Journals 1906-Present

• Anon., 'News Notes', The Bookman, vol. 15, March 1899, pp. 163-66 at p. 164, photograph of Magda Heinemann.

Websites

• None.

Unpublished

• None.

Other

• None.