The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Howth Head, near Dublin was painted when Whistler was staying near Dublin between August and September 1900. ¹

Howth Head, near Dublin, private collection

The date is confirmed by the technique and form of the signature.

Images

Subject

Titles

Only one title has been suggested:

• 'Howth Head, near Dublin' (1980, YMSM). ²

Description

Howth Head, near Dublin, private collection

A sea view in horizontal format. In the foreground is a broad stretch of beach, and across the bay, a stretch of low green land, under a bright sky with scattered clouds.

Site

Howth Head, near Dublin, private collection

Howth Head is nine miles north-east of Dublin, on the coast of Ireland. This view is from Howth, looking south-west across Dublin Bay. The Wicklow Mountains are seen very faintly in the distance.

Technique

Technique

Howth Head, near Dublin, private collection

It is painted thinly, with some areas barely covered in paint, but with energetic brushwork, and slightly thicker paint, on the sky.

Conservation History

Unknown.

Frame

Unknown.

History

Provenance

• 1903: in the artist’s studio at his death and bequeathed to his sister-in-law and executrix, Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958);
• 1955: bought from her by Colnaghi, London art dealers, December 1955, and sold by them to Alan Douglas Pilkington (1890-1973).
• 1989: acquired from a private collection by private collectors, USA;
• 2014: sold at auction, Christie's, New York, 19 November 2014, sale 2899 (lot 84), for $245,000, to a private collection.

It may have been sold by A. D. Pilkington around 1960/1961 when he moved to London, and was certainly not in his collection at his death in July 1973. ³

Exhibitions

As far as is known, 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. 538) as 'Howth Head, near Dublin'.

Authored by Whistler

• None.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• None.

Journals 1855-1905

• None.

Monographs

• None.

Books on Whistler

• None.

Books, General

• None.

Catalogues 1906-Present

EXHIBITION:

• Symphony in Black and White: 100 Etchings of James McNeill Whistler, The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 2003-2004.

SALE:

• Christie's, New York, 19 November 2014, sale 2899 (lot 84, repr.).

Journals 1906-Present

• None.

Websites

• Christie's, New York, 19 November 2014 (lot 84), website.

Unpublished

• None.

Other

• None.