Drawing of standing woman in long dress
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

The image for this drawing is black-and-white. A woman stands with her body in profile facing right. Her face is turned slightly toward her right. Her hair is pinned up on her head. She wears a long dress with voluminous long sleeves. It appears to have a decorative collar, cinched detail at the elbows, and embellishment at the bottom center of the skirt. The dress is highlighted with white pigment in a way that suggests the fabric is shiny. The woman holds a long object in her clasped hands.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1943.623
People
James Abbott McNeill Whistler, American (Lowell, MA 1834 - 1903 London, England)
Title
Mrs. Leyland
Other Titles
Former Title: Study for the Portrait of Mrs. F. R. Leyland
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing
Date
1871-1874
Culture
American
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/308038

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Black, white, and blue chalk on brown wove paper
Dimensions
28.5 x 18.3 cm (11 1/4 x 7 3/16 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • inscription: recto, l.r., graphite: [c-d]?
  • inscription: verso, lower edge, graphite: 1023; [r.r.o.]?
  • exhibition label: old mount, now in curatorial file, paper, black ink, printed and handwritten, French: [printed:] Exposition d [handwritten:] Whistler London / [printed:] Pottier, Embalmeur / de Tableaux & Objets d'art / 14, Rue Gaillon - Paris / Nom [handwritten:] Blanche / [printed:] No. [handwritten:] 19 rue du Docteur Blanche
  • inscription: old mount , now in curatorial file, black ink, French: Dessin de Whistler / pour un portrait de / Mrs. Leyland / Dr. Blanche
  • label: old mount, now in curatorial file, paper, printed and handwritten: No. 6079
  • label: old mount, now in curatorial file, paper, red ink, printed: Maison Fondée en 1851 / 28 et 28 bis / Rue de l'Annonciation / Bourdel Jeune / Dorure - Miroterie / Encadrements - Tableaux / Fabrique Speciale de Cadre[ ] / et Encadrements / Cadres Bronzes & Bois Sculptés / Passy - Paris
  • label: old mount, now in curatorial file, black ink, printed and stamped, French: [partial label, stamped:] 5147 / [printed:] Couleurs et toiles fines
  • stamp: old mount, now in curatorial file, blue ink, stamped, French: (partial stamp:) [ ] e / [ ] ation / [P] aris / [ ] ntrale

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Jacques-Emile Blanche, 1905; Scott and Fowles, New York, NY, 1940, sold to Grenville L. Winthrop, 1940; his bequest to the Fogg Art Museum, 1943.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop
Accession Year
1943
Object Number
1943.623
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

THIS WORK MAY NOT BE LENT BY THE TERMS OF ITS ACQUISITION TO THE HARVARD ART MUSEUMS.

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Publication History

  • Mortimer Menpes, Whistler as I Knew Him, Adam and Charles Black (London, 1904), p. 124, reproduced
  • New Gallery, Memorial Exhibition of the Works of the Late J. McNeill Whistler, exh. cat. (London, England, 1905), p. 108, no. 84
  • Elisabeth Luther Cary, The Works of James McNeill Whistler: A Study with a Tentative List of the Artist's Work, Moffat, Yard and Company (New York, 1907), p. 196, no. 257
  • Dorothy W. Gillerman, ed., Grenville L. Winthrop: Retrospective for a Collector, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, 1969), p. 244
  • Margaret F. MacDonald, James McNeill Whistler: Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours: A Catalogue Raisonné, Yale University Press (New Haven, CT and London, England, 1995), p. 158, no. 436, reproduced
  • Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr., Virginia Anderson, and Kimberly Orcutt, ed., American Paintings at Harvard, Volume Two, Paintings, Drawings, Pastels and Stained Glass by Artists Born 1826-1856, Harvard Art Museums and Yale University Press (U.S.) (Cambridge, MA and New Haven, CT, 2008), p. 403-404, cat. no. 432, reproduced in b&w

Exhibition History

  • Memorial Exhibition of the Works of the late James McNeill Whistler: First President of the International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers, New Gallery, London, 02/22/1905 - 04/15/1905
  • L'Oeuvre de James McNeill Whistler, Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 05/01/1905 - 06/30/1905
  • Blanche, His Art and Collection, Leicester Galleries, London, 05/01/1934 - 06/30/1934
  • 32Q: 2100 19th Century, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/13/2023 - 03/25/2024

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu