James McNeill Whistler Cartoon of Rich and Poor Peacocks

Date 1876
Materials Chalk and wash on paper pricked for transfer
Dimensions 181.0 cm x 389.2 cm
Marks None
Further information GLAHA 46071.
Margaret F. MacDonald, James McNeill Whistler: Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours: A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 1995 (584).

Note This is a cartoon made for a mural of fighting peacocks in the dining room of Frederick Leyland. It is the largest drawing by Whistler and is very dynamic and expressive. Look at the attention to detail in the birds’ feathers. Whistler claimed that the peacocks represented himself and Leyland who had quarrelled over the cost of the room. Look at the angry expression on the face of the peacock on the right. This peacock was supposed to represent Leyland and the gold disks on its breast and at its feet were intended to signify his wealth and greed. Whistler's main source of inspiration was Japanese art in which peacocks were popular motifs. Whistler designed the entire room around the motif of the peacock to complement his Japanese-inspired painting, The Princess from the Land of Porcelain, which hung there. Whistler wanted people to believe in his genius, and so claimed that the room was painted spontaneously. This cartoon proves that the decoration was actually carefully planned out in advance.

Related works GLAHA 46070; YMSM 50, 178; MacDonald (1995), 583, 989-992,1603.