James McNeill Whistler

Mrs Leyland seated

Date c.1873
Materials Chalk and pastel on paper laid down on card
Dimensions 27.7 - 27.9 cm x 17.8 - 18.0 cm (irregular)
Marks Signed with a butterfly at the centre left; stamped on verso: "A.HOLLAND / 20, Broad St., W.1"
Further information GLAHA 46067.
Margaret F. MacDonald, James McNeill Whistler: Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours: A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 1995 (549).

Note Frances Leyland was the wife of Whistler's patron, Frederick Leyland. This is considered Whistler’s best likeness of her (see also Symphony in Flesh Colour and Pink: Portrait of Mrs Frances Leyland. Notice the firm line Whistler made around the line of her face, wanting to emphasise its precise shape. Her facial features were very delicately drawn, in contrast to the sketchiness of her dress. She wears a formal outfit that was appropriate for visiting. Look how Whistler suggested the white collar and sleeves of her blouse with a few touches of white chalk. Her hands and skirt were even more sketchily drawn. This was typical of Whistler’s technique, not only in pastel but in painting and etching too, where he would concentrate on a point of interest and loosely suggest the rest. In a portrait this focal point would often be the facial features which convey character, and in a landscape it might be a building, bridge, figure or boat.

Related works YMSM 106; GLAHA 46774; MacDonald (1995) 545, 546, 548.