Portrait of Whistler with a Hat
date: label: Date
content: 1857-1859
name: label: Artist
content: James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)
label: Sitter
content: James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)
notes: label: Label
content: As is frequently the case when a young artist creates a self-portrait, Whistler identified himself with a past master. Theodore Duret reported that Whistler was particularly struck by Rembrandt's Portrait of a Man in a Beret in the Louvre. Whistler adopted Rembrandt's general format as well as his rich, dark palette. The artist Kenyon Cox detected the impact of Courbet's realism in Whistler's use of "rather violent light and shade, with black shadows, the yellowish tone of the flesh, and the attempt at powerful modelling." The self-portrait exhibits a fastidious fashion consciousness: the artist is wearing a flat-brimmed brushed silk hat--the "Quartier Latin type," as one friend described it. By the time Freer acquired this self-portrait in 1906, it had been frequently exhibited in America and reproduced as both a woodcut and an engraving.
label: Provenance
content: Ernest Delannoy (died circa 1860-1870), France, given by the artist [1]
label: Provenance
content: Henri Valentin (1820-1855), France, purchased at auction, Hôtel des Ventes, Paris, upon the death of Ernest Delannoy in 1870 [2]
label: Provenance
content: From 1871 to 1906
label: Provenance
content: Samuel Putnam Avery (1822-1904), New York, NY, purchased from Henri Valentin in 1871 [3]
label: Provenance
content: From 1906 to 1919
label: Provenance
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Samuel P. Avery in March 1906 [4]
label: Provenance
content: From 1920
label: Provenance
content: Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [5]
label: Provenance
content: Notes:
label: Provenance
content: [1] According to Albert Eugene Gallatin's Portraits of Whistler: a Critical Study and Iconography, this painting was "[p]resented by Whistler to Ernest Delannoy. Bought by Samuel P. Avery from Henri Valentin in 1871. Bought by Charles L. Freer from Samuel P. Avery" (see Albert Eugene Gallatin, Portraits of Whistler: a Critical Study and Iconography [New York and London: John Lane Company, 1918], pgs. 47-48). According to the National Portrait Gallery's Catalogue of Later Victorian Portraits, Henri Valentin purchased the painting at an auction held at Hôtel des Ventes, following the death of Ernest Delannoy (see http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/personExtended/mp04794/james-abbott-mcneill-whistler?tab=iconography). See also, Curatorial Remark 2, Susan Hobbs, 1978, in the object record.
label: Provenance
content: [2] See note 1.
label: Provenance
content: [3] See note 1. See also, Original Whistler List, pg. 15B, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.
label: Provenance
content: [4] See note 3.
label: Provenance
content: [5] 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: Mr. Whistler's Galleries: Avant-garde in Victorian London, 1883 (November 20, 2003 to April 4, 2004)
label: Exhibition History
content: Picturing Whistler: Portraits and Self-Portraits (May 21 to December 3, 2000)
label: Exhibition History
content: American Art - James McNeill Whistler (May 9, 1993 to June 30, 1997)
label: Exhibition History
content: Arrangement in Yellow and Gold: Paintings by James McNeill Whistler (March 14, 1986 to April 1, 1987)
label: Exhibition History
content: American Paintings: James McNeill Whistler (January 17, 1985 to (end date unknown))
label: Exhibition History
content: James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art (May 11, 1984 to December 5, 1984)
label: Exhibition History
content: American Paintings: James McNeill Whistler 1834-1903 (September 16, 1981 to March 26, 1984)
label: Exhibition History
content: American Paintings: James McNeill Whistler (November 11, 1976 to March 18, 1981)
label: Exhibition History
content: Paintings by James McNeill Whistler (August 1, 1974 to December 5, 1975)
label: Exhibition History
content: Portraits and Figure Painting by James McNeill Whistler (October 2, 1972 to May 2, 1973)
label: Exhibition History
content: Whistler—Landscapes and Seascapes (October 14, 1969 to September 25, 1971)
label: Exhibition History
content: Whistler Paintings (September 8, 1961 to October 15, 1969)
label: Exhibition History
content: American Paintings (September 8, 1961 to May 2, 1973)
label: Exhibition History
content: American Paintings (June 9, 1960 to September 8, 1961)
label: Exhibition History
content: Centennial Exhibition, Galleries 10 and 11 (February 25, 1956 to November 3, 1959)
label: Exhibition History
content: Untitled Exhibition, Whistler Oil Paintings, Gallery 3, 1955 (December 16, 1955 to February 25, 1956)
label: Exhibition History
content: Untitled Exhibition, American Oil Paintings, Gallery 3, 1947 (September 25, 1947 to April 12, 1955)
label: Exhibition History
content: Untitled Exhibition, Works of Whistler (September 22, 1947 to April 11, 1955)
label: Exhibition History
content: Untitled Exhibition, Whistler Oil Paintings (February 12, 1944 to May 10, 1945)
label: Exhibition History
content: Untitled Exhibition, Whistler Watercolors, Oil Paintings, and Pastels (January 20, 1944 to October 13, 1947)
label: Exhibition History
content: American Paintings by Dewing, Sargeant, Homer, Tryon, Brush, Melchers and Whistler (March 23, 1925 to May 5, 1933)
label: Exhibition History
content: American Paintings, J.A.McN. Whistler (May 2, 1923 to February 12, 1944)
label: Exhibition History
content: Portraits of Whistler and other Whistleriana (1918)
label: Exhibition History
content: James McNeill Whistler (April 09, 1915 to April 27, 1915)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Ernest Delannoy (died ca. 1860 -1870)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Henri Valentin (1820-1855)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Samuel Putnam Avery (1822-1904) (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: self portrait
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: 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: F1906.57a-b
objectType: label: Type
content: Painting
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Oil on canvas
label: Dimensions
content: H x W: 46.3 x 38.1 cm (18 1/4 x 15 in)