The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1914-02-12
WHISTLER STORIES
Audacity and Sarcasm of the Ec.
centric Genius,
JHE FAMOUS PEACOCK ROOM

THE FAMOUS PEACOCK ROOM
"Jimmie's" Offhand Hospitality, at His
Patrons Expense, While Decorating
1t, the Clash 1t Led TO and the Way
the Artist Squared Accounts.
In Mrs. Alec Tweedie's Thirteen
Years of Busy N- n's Life she
tells this story of Whistler, which she
heard at first hand:
THE famous peacock room at
Princes Gate was a wonderful scheme
of decoration, peacock's eyes on a gold
ground being its principal motif About
the year 1880 the late Mr.. Leyland, a
wealthy shipowner and patron of the
arts, had taken this grand new man
sion and asked Whistler to decorate
a room. Jimmy. poor and out at ell
bows as usual, jumped at the idea,
but no terms were fixed upon. The
work began. 1t was a prodigious un-
dertaking, and the extraordinary and
erratic little man gave it his whole
time.
Being at Princes Gate all day and
having the run Of Leyland's house.
Whistler had q hospitable way of in
viting his friends to come and see the
room and then he would ask them to
stop to luncheon. This sort of thing.
which began occasionally, ended in
being an almost daily occurrence, and
Jimmy used to hold little levee every
morning, when three, four or five peo-
pie remained to Luncheon. This became
too much for Mr.. Leyland. and his plan
| for putting an end to the campaign
was somewhat ingenious one.
Jimmy one day entertained fou1
friends. The meal not being announc
| ed. he rang the bell for the butler.
| When is lunch?' he asked
| "'I have no orders for iunch,' replied
the man, with a stately air.
! "'Ch. no, of COURSE replied Jimmy,
not in the least disconnected. Wen
I go along to such and such a hotel.
/ Stupid of me to forget it.
'But it was enough, and, though he
! pretended not to mind and with that
delightful impudence for which he was
famous turned it off. he never forgave
the incident and determined to pay
! Leyland out. From that day he took
- G--c I--ncl in little naper parcel
| and sat and devoured 1t when so In
clined. On the next occasion Leyland
came in to admire the peacock decora
tions about the usual luncheon hour.
"'You will have some lunch. won't
your Whistler said. Leyland looked
surprised.
''Cp jumped Jimmy, fetched his bag
and proceeded to unite his parcels, say
ing: It's all right, old chap; have NJ
anxiety. 1t is my lunch. not yours
and you are heartily welcome to it.
when the work was accomplished
which had taken so long Leyland wish
ed to pay the bill and asked the artis
what was his figure. i have worked
a whole year and MORE Whistler said
4 consider my services are worth f2.
600 a year, therefc<e the figure is G2.
500, from which you can deduct th'
few hundreds you have given me OF
account
"LeylanG was Mortified. 'Preposter
ous,' he said, perfectly preposterous-
Jimmy looked at him and drew him
self up to his full height, which wa
not great. L beg, Mr.. Leyland, tha
you will accept as a gift the entir
work Of my life for the last year and /;
quarter. l can compromise nothing.
"Once again Whistler scored an;
Leyland paid. Whistler's thanks to hi
patron afterward took the form Q
painting a life size portrait of him a
a devil with horns and hoofs."
Sir E. ]. Poynter, P. r. A., says th
New York Sun, told in an interview
how when he was studying in Pari
for three or four years there was on
little artistic group called "Trilby.
He says:
MY companions were Whistler. D
Maurier, Val Prinsep, Lamont, Thon
as and Armstrong. Of course D
Ma urier altered the thing good dea
but his picture of studio life was /
the main q truthful representation c
our life at that time. Trilby herself,
believe, was a pure product of the al
thor's brain.
"In many ways the most remarkabl
man among US was Whistler. II h
had only had energy there is no know
ing to what height he might hay
scared but he was incorrlgibly laz
l remember visiting him once at
nursing home in Paris. He had bee
working a little on a study i'll pi1l
carnations. It was exquisite from tt
extraordinary sense of color it di
played. This was his great gift. &
excelled every painter ever known
purity and delicacy of coloring. E
rarely finished any work, but he love
to pretend, just for fun, that his u
finished studies We're perfect wor]
Of genius. Then he would chuck
when people took him at his word al
declared that the very Incompetence
of the sketches constituted their gre
artistic merit