Object Details
- Label
- Whistler used two pages from his notebook for this drawing. He later removed the sheets from the notebook and joined them at the center of the composition. Sharply incised lines surround the image, suggesting that he would have brought the viewer closer to the composition and eliminated some of the detail had he taken the conception further. The scene shows a group of figures approaching a columned portico. The general composition recalls earlier views of Dieppe. Architectural features in this drawing suggest that the spot is one of the baths or gambling casinos of Baden Baden. In the distance, buildings nestled against the hills of the Black Forest can be seen. A French geography book of 1878 attributed the city's appeal not to any commercial attraction, but to the beauty of the setting and les agrements de la vie.
- Provenance
- Seymour Haden (1818-1910), London [1]
- To 1898
- H. Wunderlich & Co., New York to 1898 [2]
- From 1898 to 1919
- Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from H. Wunderlich & Co., through Thomas Wilmer Dewing (1851-1938), in November 1898 [3]
- From 1920
- Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [4]
- Notes:
- [1] See Original Whistler List, Haden Collection Drawings, pg. 2, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.
- [2] See Voucher No. 20, November 1898, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.
- [3] See note 2.
- [4] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.
- Collection
- Freer Gallery of Art Collection
- Exhibition History
- James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art—Whistler and Modern Life (May 11, 1984 to December 16, 1984)
- Previous custodian or owner
- Francis Seymour Haden (1818-1910)
- H. Wunderlich & Co. (1874-1912) (C.L. Freer source)
- Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)
- Data Source
- Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
- Artist
- James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)
- Date
- 1858
- Credit Line
- Gift of Charles Lang Freer
- Medium
- Pencil on off-white wove paper
- Dimensions
- H x W: 15.3 x 19.5 cm (6 x 7 11/16 in)
- Type
- Drawing
