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Pastel drawing of close view of flower pistils (round center parts)

The focus of this drawing is two flower pistils, the round central parts to which petals are attached. They are shown as if viewed from the top and aligned vertically on the page. Each pistil has a small, round central area surrounded by a ring of yellow ridges, then another ring of green ridges. A tan vertical stem-like line runs between the two pistils. Green horizontal lines extend from the center of each circle. Sketchy, un-detailed black and white lines suggest petal shapes around each flower center. There is a slanted paragraph of text in the bottom left corner.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1943.628
People
James Abbott McNeill Whistler, American (Lowell, MA 1834 - 1903 London, England)
Title
Study of Rosettes for Lady's Dress
Other Titles
Former Title: Sunflowers
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing
Date
1871-1874
Culture
American
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/308032

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Pastel on brown wove paper
Dimensions
28.8 × 18.3 cm (11 5/16 × 7 3/16 in.)
mat: 50.5 × 38.7 cm (19 7/8 × 15 1/4 in.)
frame: 52.2 × 40.6 × 1.7 cm (20 9/16 × 16 × 11/16 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • inscription: l.r., black ink: Tres peu du [underlined:] vert-- deux ranges / [underlined:] seulement-- le reste [underlined:] jaune-- avec un / petit [underlined:] bouton brun au mileu-- / Que le vert dépasse bien le / jaune
  • label: removed from old backing, now in curatorial file, paper, printed: Scott & Fowles / Dealers in High Class Paintings / 667 Fifth Avenue, / New York
  • stamp: on mat below drawing, purple ink: P.D.C. [Lugt 2075]

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
P. & D. Colnaghi & Co. Ltd., London, 1921; Scott and Fowles, New York, NY; Hunt Henderson, New Orleans; his bequest to Tulane University, 1939; sold to Grenville L. Winthrop, 1941; 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
1943.628
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

  • Elizabeth Robins Pennell and Joseph Pennell, The Whistler Journal, J. B. Lippincott and Co. (Philadelphia, PA, 1921), p. 301
  • Dorothy W. Gillerman, ed., Grenville L. Winthrop: Retrospective for a Collector, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, 1969), p. 244
  • Robin Spencer, ed., Whistler: A Retrospective, Hugh Lauter Levin Associates, Inc. (New York, NY, 1989), reproduced p. 109
  • Richard Dorment and Margaret F. MacDonald, James McNeill Whistler, exh. cat., Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (New York, NY, 1995), under numbers 70 and 72, pp. 156 - 158
  • Margaret F. MacDonald, James McNeill Whistler: Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours: A Catalogue Raisonné, Yale University Press (New Haven, CT and London, England, 1995), p. 157, no. 434, 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. 433, reproduced in color, p. 404

Exhibition History

  • 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