Documents associated with: International Exhibition, London, 1862
Record 4 of 5
System Number: 11311
Date: 26 October 1865
Author: JW
Place: Calvados, France
Recipient: Lucas Ionides[1]
Place: [London]
Repository: Library of Congress
Call Number: Manuscripts Division, Pennell-Whistler Collection, PWC 2/17/32
Document Type: ALS[2]
Hotel du Bras d'Or -
Trouville -
Calvados -
Oct 26 - 1865
Dear Lucas -
Very many thanks for taking all the trouble you have in writing these letters[5] for me and arranging the business with Farmer & Rogers[6] so nicely - Your note [7]with their reply[8] has just reached me - will you write to them once more and say that you have heard from me in answer to their question as to my return - that I am finishing some important pictures[9] which will keep me here until about the 10th of Nov - so that if they were to present the bill in a day or two afterwards I should be in London to meet it -
I was sorry to bother [p. 2] you with a telegram[10] the other day or rather night! - I got your answer[11] all right - and your two letters[12] since - The post is so stupid in it's [sic] arrangements here - It takes three days to hear from London - My pictures I think you will like very much - The Sea[13] is splendid at this moment but I am anxious to get back - My regards in Holland Park[14] - Did John[15] see the Davenports[16] in Paris -
Adieu
Ever Yours
JAM. Whistler
Write me a line or two if there is any news
This document is protected by copyright.
Notes:
1. Lucas Ionides
Lucas ('Luke') Alexander Ionides (1837-1924), stockbroker and businessman [more].
2. ALS
Published in Grasberger sale catalogue, Philadelphia, c. 1926, p. 3,
item 2.
3. '250'
Written in another hand.
4. '75'
Written in another hand.
5. these letters
Untraced.
6. Farmer & Rogers
JW had received a bill from Farmer & Rogers for at least £50 (see JW to L. Ionides, #11310). Farmer & Rogers ran a Shawl and Cloak Emporium at 171-5 Regent St. However, in 1862, the firm opened an Oriental Warehouse next door to the main shop, using Japanese exhibits purchased at the London International Exhibition, 1862 as a basis for its stock. The Warehouse was managed by Arthur Lasenby Liberty (1843-1917), designer, founder of Liberty and Co. [more]. It became a meeting place for artists and collectors of Japanese artistic objects. JW's bill was probably for Japanese objects, used as props in such works as Purple and Rose: The Lange Leizen of the Six Marks (YMSM 47).
7. note
Untraced. JW had asked Ionides to pay the bill on his behalf as it was due on 26 October before his anticipated return to London. He promised to repay him at the beginning of November (see JW to L. Ionides, #11310).
8. reply
Untraced. It seems that Farmer & Rogers offered to put off payment of JW's bill until his return.
9. pictures
JW was in Trouville with Joanna Hiffernan (b. ca 1843), JW's model and mistress [more], painting seascapes with Jean-Désiré-Gustave Courbet (1819-1877), painter [more]. Courbet appears in Harmony in Blue and Silver: Trouville (YMSM 64) which JW described as 'The only painting by me of Courbet.' (JW to D. C. Thomson, #08304). Other works painted at Trouville on this trip include Blue and Silver: Trouville (YMSM 66).
10. telegram
Untraced.
11. answer
Untraced.
12. two letters
Untraced.
13. Sea
See the climatic effects observed by JW at Trouville in such works as Sea and Rain (YMSM 65) and Crepuscule in Opal: Trouville (YMSM 67).
14. Holland Park
Home of Constantine Alexander Ionides (1833-1900), collector and businessman [more] and Euterpe Ionides (1816-1892), née Sgouta, wife of A. C. Ionides [more]. The family had moved to No 1, Holland Park in 1864.
15. John
Possibly John O'Leary (1830-1907), Irish nationalist and journalist [more].
16. Davenports
Possibly Isaiah Davenport (m. 1838), husband of Martha Fairfax [more], a family relation through marriage.