Milly Finch
date: label: Date
content: 1883-1884
name: label: Artist
content: James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)
notes: label: Description
content: A young woman reclining on a sofa, her left arm raised, holding an open fan, with a second figure behind the sofa at the right; signed with the butterfly at upper left.
label: Signatures
content: Red butterfly in upper left
label: Paper/Support
content: On cold-pressed, wove paper.
label: Label
content: One of Whistler's most erotic watercolors, Milly Finch evokes Goya's famous paintings of the Naked Maja and the Clothed Maja (both in the Prado). Silhouetted against the vibrant red of he sofa, the model provocatively twists her body, emphasizing the narrowness of her waist and the thrust of her hips. But as in Goya's paintings, the model's head seems detached from her body, and her glazed stare holds the viewer at a distance.
label: Provenance
content: To 1907
label: Provenance
content: Obach & Co., London, to 1907 [1]
label: Provenance
content: From 1907 to 1919
label: Provenance
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Obach & Co. in 1907 [2]
label: Provenance
content: From 1920
label: Provenance
content: Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]
label: Provenance
content: Notes:
label: Provenance
content: [1] See List of Whistler Purchases Since Making Up the Smithsonian Inventory, pg. 4, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.
label: Provenance
content: [2] See note 1.
label: Provenance
content: [3] 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.
label: Collection
content: Freer Gallery of Art Collection
label: Exhibition History
content: Whistler in Watercolor (May 18 to November 3, 2019)
label: Exhibition History
content: Mr. Whistler's Galleries: Avant-garde in Victorian London, 1883 (November 20, 2003 to April 4, 2004)
label: Exhibition History
content: James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art—Whistler and the Figure (May 11, 1984 to December 16, 1984)
label: Exhibition History
content: James McNeill Whistler Pastels, Etchings, Paintings, Watercolors (November 11, 1976 to June 24, 1977)
label: Exhibition History
content: Whistler Pastels and Water Colors (July 1 to July 31, 1974)
label: Exhibition History
content: Centennial Exhibition, Galleries 10 and 11 (February 25, 1956 to November 3, 1959)
label: Exhibition History
content: Untitled Exhibition, Whistler Paintings and Drawings (December 14, 1955 to February 25, 1956)
label: Exhibition History
content: Untitled Exhibition, Works of Whistler (September 22, 1947 to April 11, 1955)
label: Exhibition History
content: Untitled Exhibition, Whistler Watercolors, Oil Paintings, and Pastels (January 20, 1944 to October 13, 1947)
label: Exhibition History
content: Whistler Pastels and Drawings, Re-arranged and some additions (January 7, 1924 to January 20, 1944)
label: Exhibition History
content: Whistler Water Colors (January 7, 1924 to April 4, 1930)
label: Exhibition History
content: American Paintings, Pastels, and Water Colors, and Drawings. J.A.McN. Whistler (May 2, 1923 to January 7, 1924)
label: Exhibition History
content: "Notes"—"Harmonies"—"Nocturnes" (May 1886)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Obach & Co. (1884-1911) (C.L. Freer source)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)
place: label: Origin
content: United States
topic: label: Topic
content: crop marks
label: Topic
content: bone black
label: Topic
content: ivory black
label: Topic
content: cerulean blue
label: Topic
content: Prussian blue
label: Topic
content: burnt sienna
label: Topic
content: raw sienna
label: Topic
content: burnt umber
label: Topic
content: raw umber
label: Topic
content: iron oxide red
label: Topic
content: vermilion
label: Topic
content: Venetian red
label: Topic
content: zinc white
label: Topic
content: chrome yellow
label: Topic
content: Mars pigment
label: Topic
content: yellow ocher
label: Topic
content: madder
label: Topic
content: portrait
label: Topic
content: woman
label: Topic
content: fan
label: Topic
content: United States
label: Topic
content: American Art
label: Topic
content: Charles Lang Freer collection
setName: label: Related Online Resources
content: Google Arts & Culture
label: Related Online Resources
content: Whistler in Watercolor
label: See more items in
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Charles Lang Freer
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: F1907.170a-d
objectType: label: Type
content: Painting
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Watercolor on paper
label: Dimensions
content: H x W: 29.8 x 22.5 cm (11 3/4 x 8 7/8 in)