70-550: Harmony in Blue and Gold: The Peacock Room (better known as The Peacock Room ) is a work of interior decorative art created by James McNeill Whistler and Thomas Jeckyll , translocated to the Freer Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Whistler painted the paneled room in a unified palette of blue-greens with over- glazing and metallic gold leaf . Painted between 1876 and 1877, it now
140-487: A blue or light green palette. After he returned to London, he painted several more nocturnes over the next ten years, many of the River Thames and of Cremorne Gardens , a pleasure park famous for its frequent fireworks displays, which presented a novel challenge to paint. In his maritime nocturnes, Whistler used highly thinned paint as a ground with lightly flicked color to suggest ships, lights, and shore line. Some of
210-557: A few months he lived in Baltimore with a wealthy friend, Tom Winans, who even furnished Whistler with a studio and some spending cash. The young artist made some valuable contacts in the art community and also sold some early paintings to Winans. Whistler turned down his mother's suggestions for other more practical careers and informed her that with money from Winans, he was setting out to further his art training in Paris. Whistler never returned to
280-531: A journal of the University of Notre Dame 's McGrath Institute, published " The Art of Madness and Mystery ," an essay which uses The Peacock Room and Waterson's Filthy Lucre to examine at length the differences and inherent character of traditional art (especially in the context of Aestheticism ) and Contemporary Art . James McNeill Whistler James Abbott McNeill Whistler RBA ( / ˈ w ɪ s l ər / ; July 10, 1834 – July 17, 1903)
350-415: A journey that has puzzled scholars, although Whistler stated that he did it for political reasons. Chile was at war with Spain and perhaps Whistler thought it a heroic struggle of a small nation against a larger one, but no evidence supports that theory. What the journey did produce was Whistler's first three nocturnal paintings (which he originally termed "moonlights"): night scenes of the harbor painted with
420-420: A letter from his mother, so Whistler turned to his mother and suggested that he do her portrait. He had her stand at first, in his typically slow and experimental way, but that proved too tiring so the seated pose was adopted. It took dozens of sittings to complete. The austere portrait in his normally constrained palette is another Whistler exercise in tonal harmony and composition. The deceptively simple design
490-517: A lily in her left hand and stands upon a wolf skin rug (interpreted by some to represent masculinity and lust) with the wolf's head staring menacingly at the viewer. The portrait was refused for exhibition at the conservative Royal Academy, but was shown in a private gallery under the title The Woman in White . In 1863, it was shown at the Salon des Refusés in Paris, an event sponsored by Emperor Napoleon III for
560-550: A literal portrayal of the natural world. Two years later, Whistler painted another portrait of Hiffernan in white, this time displaying his newfound interest in Asian motifs, which he entitled The Little White Girl . His Lady of the Land Lijsen and The Golden Screen , both completed in 1864, again portray his mistress, in even more emphatic Asian dress and surroundings. During this period Whistler became close to Gustave Courbet ,
630-797: A modest house at 243 Worthen Street in Lowell, Massachusetts. The house is now the Whistler House Museum of Art , a museum dedicated to him. He claimed St. Petersburg, Russia as his birthplace during the Ruskin trial: "I shall be born when and where I want, and I do not choose to be born in Lowell." Whistler was a moody child, prone to fits of temper and insolence, and he often drifted into periods of laziness after bouts of illness. His parents discovered that drawing often settled him down and helped focus his attention. The family moved from Lowell to Stonington, Connecticut in 1837, where his father worked for
700-541: A negative under the action of the chemicals comes out gradually—light, shadows, and all from the very first faint indications to their full values. It was as if the portrait were hidden within the canvas and the master by passing his wands day after day over the surface evoked the image. The Gentle Art of Making Enemies The Gentle Art of Making Enemies is a book by the painter James McNeill Whistler , published in London in 1890 by William Heinemann , who also published
770-761: A second, enlarged edition in 1892. The book was in part a response to, in part a transcript of, Whistler's famous libel suit against critic John Ruskin . Ruskin, in a review of the inaugural showing at the Grosvenor Gallery , had referred to Whistler's painting Nocturne in Black and Gold – The Falling Rocket as "flinging a pot of paint in the public's face". The book contains Whistler's letters to newspapers chronicling his many petty grievances against various acquaintances and friends, and it contains his famous 1885 lecture, "Ten O'Clock", explaining "the meaning and purpose of art". Whistler biographer Stanley Weintraub suggests
SECTION 10
#1733084642673840-456: A specific meaning almost immediately to almost every viewer. These few works have successfully made the transition from the elite realm of the museum visitor to the enormous venue of popular culture. Other important portraits by Whistler include those of Thomas Carlyle (historian, 1873), Maud Franklin (his mistress, 1876), Cicely Alexander (daughter of a London banker, 1873), Lady Meux (socialite, 1882), and Théodore Duret (critic, 1884). In
910-475: A splendid power of composition and design, which evince a just appreciation of nature very rare amongst artists." The work is unsentimental and effectively contrasts the mother in black and the daughter in white, with other colors kept restrained in the manner advised by his teacher Gleyre . It was displayed at the Royal Academy the following year, and in many exhibits to come. In a second painting executed in
980-621: A watercolour set with instruction. Whistler already was imagining an art career. He began to collect books on art and he studied other artists' techniques. When his portrait was painted by Sir William Boxall in 1848, the young Whistler exclaimed that the portrait was "very much like me and a very fine picture. Mr. Boxall is a beautiful colourist... It is a beautiful creamy surface, and looks so rich." In his blossoming enthusiasm for art, at fifteen, he informed his father by letter of his future direction, "I hope, dear father, you will not object to my choice." His father, however, died from cholera at
1050-458: Is a gas ." As he himself put it later: "If silicon were a gas, I would have been a general one day". However, a separate anecdote suggests misconduct in drawing class as the reason for Whistler's departure. After West Point, Whistler worked as draftsman mapping the entire U.S. coast for military and maritime purposes. He found the work boring and he was frequently late or absent. He spent much of his free time playing billiards and idling about,
1120-572: Is considered one of the greatest surviving Aesthetic interiors, and best examples of the Anglo-Japanese style . The Peacock Room was originally designed to serve as the dining room in the townhouse located at 49 Prince's Gate in the neighbourhood of Kensington in London, and owned by the British shipping magnate Frederick Richards Leyland . Leyland engaged the British architect Richard Norman Shaw to remodel and redecorate his home. Shaw entrusted
1190-582: Is in fact a balancing act of differing shapes, particularly the rectangles of curtain, picture on the wall, and floor which stabilize the curve of her face, dress, and chair. Whistler commented that the painting's narrative was of little importance, yet the painting was also paying homage to his pious mother. After the initial shock of her moving in with her son, she aided him considerably by stabilizing his behavior somewhat, tending to his domestic needs, and providing an aura of conservative respectability that helped win over patrons. The public reacted negatively to
1260-481: Is marked by a subtle delicacy, while his public persona was combative. He found a parallel between painting and music, and entitled many of his paintings "arrangements", "harmonies", and "nocturnes" , emphasizing the primacy of tonal harmony. His most famous painting, Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1 (1871), commonly known as Whistler's Mother , is a revered and often parodied portrait of motherhood. Whistler influenced
1330-521: Is really so charming and does so poetically say all that I want to say and no more than I wish! At that point, Whistler painted another self-portrait and entitled it Arrangement in Gray: Portrait of the Painter (c. 1872), and he also began to re-title many of his earlier works using terms associated with music, such as a " nocturne ", " symphony ", " harmony ", " study " or " arrangement ", to emphasize
1400-600: The American South and its roots, and he presented himself as an impoverished Southern aristocrat , although it remains unclear to what extent he truly sympathized with the Southern cause during the American Civil War . He adopted his mother's maiden name after she died, using it as an additional middle name. His father was a railroad engineer, and Anna was his second wife. James lived the first three years of his life in
1470-467: The Imperial Academy of Arts at age eleven. The young artist followed the traditional curriculum of drawing from plaster casts and occasional live models, revelled in the atmosphere of art talk with older peers, and pleased his parents with a first-class mark in anatomy. In 1844, he met the noted artist Sir William Allan , who came to Russia with a commission to paint a history of the life of Peter
SECTION 20
#17330846426731540-569: The Kangxi era of the Qing dynasty . To the south of the room, a walnut Welsh dresser was placed in the centre, just below the large empty leather panel, and flanked on both sides by the framework shelves. On the east side, three tall windows parted the room overlooking a private park, and covered by full-length walnut shutters. To the north a fireplace, over which hung the painting by American painter James McNeill Whistler , Rose and Silver: The Princess from
1610-560: The Musée d'Orsay in Paris. During the Great Depression in the United States, the picture was billed as a "million dollar" painting and was a big hit at the 1933–34 Chicago World's Fair . It was accepted as a universal icon of motherhood by the worldwide public, which was not particularly aware of or concerned with Whistler's aesthetic theories. In recognition of its status and popularity,
1680-627: The Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. The gallery opened to the public in 1923. The Peacock Room was closed for renovation, along with other parts of the gallery, in January 2016. It reopened to the public in the summer of 2017; it also underwent extensive restoration in 2022. Filthy Lucre , an installation by contemporary artist Darren Waterston , replicates The Peacock Room in a state of decay and disrepair. It opened in May 2015. In March 2020, Church Life ,
1750-706: The Stonington Railroad . Three of the couple's children died in infancy during this period. Their fortunes improved considerably in 1839 when his father became chief engineer for the Boston & Albany Railroad , and the family built a mansion in Springfield, Massachusetts , where the Wood Museum of History now stands. They lived in Springfield until they left the United States for Russia in late 1842. In 1842, his father
1820-439: The 1870s, Whistler painted full-length portraits of his benefactor Frederick Leyland and his wife Frances. Leyland subsequently commissioned the artist to decorate his dining room (see Peacock Room below). Whistler had been disappointed over the irregular acceptance of his works for the Royal Academy exhibitions and the poor hanging and placement of his paintings. In response, Whistler staged his first solo show in 1874. The show
1890-562: The Great . Whistler's mother noted in her diary, "the great artist remarked to me 'Your little boy has uncommon genius, but do not urge him beyond his inclination.'" In 1847–1848, his family spent some time in London with relatives, while his father stayed in Russia. Whistler's brother-in-law Francis Haden , a physician who was also an artist, spurred his interest in art and photography. Haden took Whistler to visit collectors and to lectures, and gave him
1960-659: The Impressionists in 1874, Whistler turned down the invitation, as did Manet , and some scholars attributed this in part to Fantin-Latour's influence on both men. The Franco-Prussian War of 1870 fragmented the French art community. Many artists took refuge in England, joining Whistler, including Camille Pissarro and Claude Monet , while Manet and Degas stayed in France. Like Whistler, Monet and Pissarro both focused their efforts on views of
2030-467: The Land of Porcelain , that served as the focal point of the room. The ceiling was constructed in a pendant panelled Tudor-style, and decorated with eight globed pendant gas light fixtures. To finish the room, Jekyll placed a rug with a red border on the floor. Jeckyll had nearly completed his decorative scheme when an illness compelled him to abandon the project. Whistler, who was then working on decorations for
2100-480: The Land of Porcelain , American industrialist and art collector Charles Lang Freer anonymously purchased the entire room in 1904 from Leyland's heirs, including Leyland's daughter and her husband, the British artist Val Prinsep . Freer then had the contents of the Peacock Room installed in his Detroit mansion . After Freer's death in 1919, the Peacock Room was permanently installed in the Freer Gallery of Art at
2170-456: The Moose . Whistler did his part in promoting the picture and popularizing the image. He frequently exhibited it and authorized the early reproductions that made their way into thousands of homes. The painting narrowly escaped being burned in a fire aboard a train during shipping. It was ultimately purchased by the French government, the first Whistler work in a public collection, and is now housed in
The Peacock Room - Misplaced Pages Continue
2240-452: The Piano in 1859 in London, which he adopted as his home, while also regularly visiting friends in France. At the Piano is a portrait composed of his niece and her mother in their London music room, an effort which clearly displayed his talent and promise. A critic wrote, "[despite] a recklessly bold manner and sketchiness of the wildest and roughest kind, [it has] a genuine feeling for colour and
2310-541: The Thames paintings also show compositional and thematic similarities with the Japanese prints of Hiroshige . In 1872, Whistler credited his patron Frederick Leyland , an amateur musician devoted to Chopin , for his musically inspired titles. I say I can't thank you too much for the name 'Nocturne' as a title for my moonlights! You have no idea what an irritation it proves to the critics and consequent pleasure to me—besides it
2380-533: The United States issued a postage stamp in 1934 featuring an adaptation of the painting. In 2015, New Yorker critic Peter Schjeldahl wrote that it "remains the most important American work residing outside the United States." Martha Tedeschi writes: Whistler's Mother , Wood 's American Gothic , Leonardo da Vinci 's Mona Lisa and Edvard Munch 's The Scream have all achieved something that most paintings—regardless of their art historical importance, beauty, or monetary value—have not: they communicate
2450-554: The United States. Whistler arrived in Paris in 1855, rented a studio in the Latin Quarter , and quickly adopted the life of a bohemian artist. Soon he had a French girlfriend, a dressmaker named Héloise. He studied traditional art methods for a short time at the Ecole Impériale and at the atelier of Charles Gleyre . The latter was a great advocate of the work of Ingres , and impressed Whistler with two principles that he used for
2520-541: The age of 49, and the Whistler family moved back to his mother's home town of Pomfret, Connecticut . The family lived frugally and managed to get by on a limited income. His art plans remained vague and his future uncertain. His cousin reported that Whistler at that time was "slight, with a pensive, delicate face, shaded by soft brown curls... he had a somewhat foreign appearance and manner, which, aided by natural abilities, made him very charming, even at that age." Whistler
2590-484: The art world and the broader culture of his time with his aesthetic theories and his friendships with other leading artists and writers. James Abbott Whistler was born in Lowell, Massachusetts on July 10, 1834, the first child of Anna McNeill Whistler and George Washington Whistler , and the elder brother of Confederate surgeon William McNeill Whistler . In later years, Whistler played up his mother's connection to
2660-540: The artist and his patron, which he titled Art and Money: or, The Story of the Room . Whistler is reported to have said to Leyland, "Ah, I have made you famous. My work will live when you are forgotten. Still, per chance, in the dim ages to come you will be remembered as the proprietor of the Peacock Room." The dispute between Whistler and Leyland did not end there. In 1879, Whistler was forced to file for bankruptcy, and Leyland
2730-485: The brutality of life and nature and to portray it faithfully, avoiding the old themes of mythology and allegory. Théophile Gautier , one of the first to explore translation qualities among art and music, may have inspired Whistler to view art in musical terms. Reflecting his adopted circle's banner of the Realism art movement , Whistler painted his first exhibited work, La Mère Gérard in 1858. He followed it by painting At
2800-559: The city, and it is likely that Whistler was exposed to the evolution of Impressionism founded by these artists and that they had seen his nocturnes. Whistler was drifting away from Courbet's "damned realism" and their friendship had wilted, as had his liaison with Joanna Hiffernan. By 1871, Whistler returned to portraits and soon produced his most famous painting, the nearly monochromatic full-length figure entitled Arrangement in Grey and Black No.1 , but usually referred to as Whistler's Mother . A model failed to appear one day, according to
2870-552: The design in Jeckyll's leaded-glass door, and then went to his home in Liverpool. During Leyland's absence, however, Whistler grew bolder with his revisions. Well, you know, I just painted on. I went on—without design or sketch—it grew as I painted. And toward the end, I reached such a point of perfection—putting in every touch with such freedom—that when I came round to the corner where I started, why, I had to paint part of it over again, as
The Peacock Room - Misplaced Pages Continue
2940-454: The difference would have been too marked. And the harmony in blue and gold developing, you know, I forgot everything in my joy in it! Upon returning, Leyland was shocked by the "improvements". The artist and patron quarreled so violently over the room and the proper compensation for the work that the relationship for Whistler was terminated. At one point, Whistler gained access to Leyland's home and painted two fighting peacocks meant to represent
3010-878: The early leader of the French realist school, but when Hiffernan modeled in the nude for Courbet, Whistler became enraged and his relationship with Hiffernan began to fall apart. In January 1864, Whistler's very religious and very proper mother arrived in London, upsetting her son's bohemian existence and temporarily exacerbating family tensions. As he wrote to Henri Fantin-Latour , "General upheaval!! I had to empty my house and purify it from cellar to eaves." He also immediately moved Hiffernan to another location. From 1866, Whistler made his home in Chelsea, London , an area popular with artists, firstly in Cheyne Walk , then an ill-fated move to Tite Street , and finally Upper Church Street. In 1866, Whistler decided to visit Valparaíso, Chile ,
3080-400: The emerging Impressionist school, found Whistler's new works surprising and confounding. Fantin-Latour admitted, "I don't understand anything there; it's bizarre how one changes. I don't recognize him anymore." Their relationship was nearly at an end by then, but they continued to share opinions in occasional correspondence. When Edgar Degas invited Whistler to exhibit with the first show by
3150-466: The entrance hall of Leyland's house, volunteered to finish Jeckyll's work in the dining room. Concerned that the red roses adorning the leather wall hangings clashed with the colours in The Princess , Whistler suggested retouching the leather with yellow paint, and Leyland agreed to that minor alteration. He also authorised Whistler to embellish the cornice and wainscoting with a "wave pattern" derived from
3220-510: The event of greatest consequence that year was his friendship with Henri Fantin-Latour , whom he met at the Louvre. Through him, Whistler was introduced to the circle of Gustave Courbet , which included Carolus-Duran (later the teacher of John Singer Sargent ), Alphonse Legros , and Édouard Manet . Also in this group was Charles Baudelaire , whose ideas and theories of "modern" art influenced Whistler. Baudelaire challenged artists to scrutinize
3290-436: The exhibition of works rejected from the Salon . Whistler's painting was widely noticed, although upstaged by Manet's more shocking painting Le déjeuner sur l'herbe . Countering criticism by traditionalists, Whistler's supporters insisted that the painting was "an apparition with a spiritual content" and that it epitomized his theory that art should be concerned essentially with the arrangement of colors in harmony, not with
3360-582: The finish. After a year in London, he produced a set of etchings in 1860 called Thames Set, as counterpoint to his 1858 French set, as well as some early impressionistic work including The Thames in Ice . At this stage, he was beginning to establish his technique of tonal harmony based on a limited, predetermined palette. In 1861, after returning to Paris for a time, Whistler painted his first famous work, Symphony in White, No. 1: The White Girl . The portrait of his mistress and business manager Joanna Hiffernan
3430-457: The incident again in his book, The Gentle Art of Making Enemies . Adding to the emotional drama was Whistler's fondness for Leyland's wife, Frances, who separated from her husband in 1879. Another result of this drama was Jeckyll who, so shocked by the first sight of his room, returned home and was later found on the floor of his studio covered in gold leaf; he never recovered and died insane three years later. Having acquired The Princess from
3500-463: The open pomegranate, and a series of red Tudor roses to symbolize her union with Henry VIII . They had hung on the walls of a Tudor style house in Norfolk for centuries before they were bought by Leyland for £1,000. Against these walls, Jekyll constructed an intricate lattice framework of engraved spindled walnut shelves that held Leyland's collection of Chinese blue and white porcelain , mostly from
3570-542: The other famous expatriate American John Singer Sargent . Whistler's spare technique and his disinclination to flatter his sitters, as well as his notoriety, may account for this. He also worked very slowly and demanded extraordinarily long sittings. William Merritt Chase complained of his sitting for a portrait by Whistler, "He proved to be a veritable tyrant, painting every day into the twilight, while my limbs ached with weariness and my head swam dizzily. 'Don't move! Don't move!' he would scream whenever I started to rest." By
SECTION 50
#17330846426733640-402: The painting, mostly because of its anti-Victorian simplicity during a time in England when sentimentality and flamboyant decoration were in vogue. Critics thought the painting a failed "experiment" rather than a work of art. The Royal Academy rejected it, but then grudgingly accepted it after lobbying by Sir William Boxall —but they hung it in an unfavorable location at their exhibition. From
3710-412: The remodelling of the dining room to Thomas Jeckyll , another British architect experienced in the Anglo-Japanese style . Jeckyll conceived the dining room as a Porzellanzimmer (porcelain room). He covered the walls with 16th-century wall hangings of Cuir de Cordoue that had been originally brought to England as part of the dowry of Catherine of Aragon . They were painted with her heraldic device,
3780-544: The rest of his career: that line is more important than color and that black is the fundamental color of tonal harmony. Twenty years later, the Impressionists would largely overthrow this philosophy, banning black and brown as "forbidden colors" and emphasizing color over form. Whistler preferred self-study and enjoying the café life. While letters from home reported his mother's efforts at economy, Whistler spent freely, sold little or nothing in his first year in Paris, and
3850-450: The same room, Whistler demonstrated his natural inclination toward innovation and novelty by fashioning a genre scene with unusual composition and foreshortening. It later was re-titled Harmony in Green and Rose: The Music Room . This painting also demonstrated Whistler's ongoing work pattern, especially with portraits: a quick start, major adjustments, a period of neglect, then a final flurry to
3920-451: The start, Whistler's Mother sparked varying reactions, including parody, ridicule, and reverence, which have continued to today. Some saw it as "the dignified feeling of old ladyhood", "a grave sentiment of mourning", or a "perfect symbol of motherhood"; others employed it as a fitting vehicle for mockery. It has been satirized in endless variations in greeting cards and magazines, and by cartoon characters such as Donald Duck and Bullwinkle
3990-472: The summer of 1858. Whistler recovered and traveled with fellow artist Ernest Delannoy through France and the Rhineland. He later produced a group of etchings known as "The French Set", with the help of French master printer Auguste Delâtre [ fr ] . During that year, he painted his first self-portrait, Portrait of Whistler with Hat , a dark and thickly rendered work reminiscent of Rembrandt . But
4060-432: The time he gained widespread acceptance in the 1890s, Whistler was past his prime as a portrait painter. Whistler's approach to portraiture in his late maturity was described by one of his sitters, Arthur J. Eddy, who posed for the artist in 1894: He worked with great rapidity and long hours, but he used his colours thin and covered the canvas with innumerable coats of paint. The colours increased in depth and intensity as
4130-548: The tonal qualities and the composition and to de-emphasize the narrative content. Whistler's nocturnes were among his most innovative works. Furthermore, his submission of several nocturnes to art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel after the Franco-Prussian War gave Whistler the opportunity to explain his evolving "theory in art" to artists, buyers, and critics in France. His good friend Fantin-Latour , growing more reactionary in his opinions, especially in his negativity concerning
4200-471: The work progressed. At first the entire figure was painted in greyish-brown tones, with very little flesh colour, the whole blending perfectly with the greyish-brown of the prepared canvas; then the entire background would be intensified a little; then the figure made a little stronger; then the background, and so on from day to day and week to week, and often from month to month. ... And so the portrait would really grow, really develop as an entirety, very much as
4270-497: Was admitted to the highly selective institution in July 1851 on the strength of his family name, despite his extreme nearsightedness and poor health history. However, during his three years there, his grades were barely satisfactory, and he was a sorry sight at drill and dress, known as "Curly" for his hair length which exceeded regulations. Whistler bucked authority, spouted sarcastic comments, and racked up demerits . Colonel Robert E Lee
SECTION 60
#17330846426734340-524: Was always broke, and although a charmer, had little acquaintance with women. After it was discovered that he was drawing sea serpents, mermaids, and whales on the margins of the maps, he was transferred to the etching division of the United States Coast Survey . He lasted there only two months, but he learned the etching technique which later proved valuable to his career. At this point, Whistler firmly decided that art would be his future. For
4410-568: Was an American painter in oils and watercolor , and printmaker , active during the American Gilded Age and based primarily in the United Kingdom. He eschewed sentimentality and moral allusion in painting and was a leading proponent of the credo " art for art's sake ". His signature for his paintings took the shape of a stylized butterfly with an added long stinger for a tail. The symbol combined both aspects of his personality: his art
4480-470: Was created as a simple study in white; however, others saw it differently. The critic Jules-Antoine Castagnary thought the painting an allegory of a new bride's lost innocence. Others linked it to Wilkie Collins 's The Woman in White , a popular novel of the time, or various other literary sources. In England, some considered it a painting in the Pre-Raphaelite manner. In the painting, Hiffernan holds
4550-456: Was his chief creditor at the time. When the creditors arrived to inventory the artist's home for liquidation, they were greeted by The Gold Scab: Eruption in Frilthy Lucre (The Creditor) , a large painted caricature of Leyland portrayed as an anthropomorphic demonic peacock playing a piano, sitting upon Whistler's house, painted in the same colours featured in the Peacock Room . He referenced
4620-525: Was in steady debt. To relieve the situation, he took to painting and selling copies from works at the Louvre and finally moved to cheaper quarters. As luck would have it, the arrival in Paris of George Lucas, another rich friend, helped stabilize Whistler's finances for a while. In spite of a financial respite, the winter of 1857 was a difficult one for Whistler. His poor health, made worse by excessive smoking and drinking, laid him low. Conditions improved during
4690-418: Was notable and noticed, however, for Whistler's design and decoration of the hall, which harmonized well with the paintings, in keeping with his art theories. A reviewer wrote, "The visitor is struck, on entering the gallery, with a curious sense of harmony and fitness pervading it, and is more interested, perhaps, in the general effect than in any one work." Whistler was not so successful a portrait painter as
4760-637: Was recruited by Nicholas I of Russia to design a railroad in Russia. The Emperor learned of George Whistler's ingenuity in engineering the Canton Viaduct for the Boston & Albany Railroad, and he offered him a position engineering the Saint Petersburg-Moscow Railway . The rest of the family moved to St. Petersburg to join him in the winter of 1842/43. After moving to St. Petersburg, the young Whistler took private art lessons, then enrolled in
4830-481: Was sent to Christ Church Hall School with his mother's hopes that he would become a minister. Whistler was seldom without his sketchbook and was popular with his classmates for his caricatures . However, it became clear that a career in religion did not suit him, so he applied to the United States Military Academy at West Point, where his father had taught drawing and other relatives had attended. He
4900-492: Was the West Point Superintendent and, after considerable indulgence toward Whistler, he had no choice but to dismiss the young cadet. Whistler's major accomplishment at West Point was learning drawing and map making from American artist Robert W. Weir . His departure from West Point seems to have been precipitated by a failure in a chemistry exam where he was asked to describe silicon and began by saying, "Silicon
#672327