The Purple Cap

Maker(s)
Artist: James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)
Historical period(s)
1890s
Medium
Drawing; chalk and pastel on grey paper
Dimensions
H x W: 27.6 x 18.1 cm (10 7/8 x 7 1/8 in)
Geography
United States
Credit Line
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art
Accession Number
F1902.111a-c
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Drawing
Type

Drawing

Keywords
child, United States, woman
Provenance

From 1902 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from the artist in 1902 [1]

From 1920
Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [2]

Notes:

[1] See Original Whistler List, Paintings, pg. 22, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.

[2] 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.

Previous Owner(s) and Custodian(s)

James McNeill Whistler (C.L. Freer source) 1834-1903
Charles Lang Freer 1854-1919

Label

Whistler referred to the pastels of his model Rose Pettigrew as "Rosies." After seeing recent works by Renoir and Degas in a Paris gallery in 1891, Whistler admonished his wife, Beatrix, to take especially good care of "the beautiful Rosies" stored "in the little drawer on the sofa!!" "Take care of them Trixie--take the two drawers, just as they are, and carry them up stairs--don't let them be shaken, and cover them with a little drapery and wait till I come back--We have no idea how precious they are!"

Quotation from James McNeill Whistler's letter to Beatrix Whistler,
June 1, 1891, Glasgow University Library.

Published References
  • Margaret F. MacDonald. James McNeill Whistler: Drawings, Pastels, and Watercolours : A Catalogue Raisonné. New Haven, 1995. .
  • Albert Gallatin. Whistler: notes and footnotes and other memoranda. New York. p. 35.
  • With Kindest Regards: The Correspondence of Charles Lang Freer and James McNeill Whistler 1890-1903. Washington. p. 43, fig. 166.
  • Albert Gallatin. Whistler's art dicta and other essays. Boston. p. 44.
  • David Park Curry. James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art. Washington and New York, 1984. pp. 48, 274, pl. 275.
  • Elisabeth Luther Cary. The Works of James McNeill Whistler: A Study., 1st ed. New York, 1907. cat. 118, p. 176.
Collection Area(s)
American Art
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
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