Documents associated with: 97th Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts, Royal Academy, London, 1865
Record 12 of 14
System Number: 11871
Date: [April 1881/1882][1]
Author: JW
Place: [London]
Recipient: Algernon Charles Swinburne[2]
Place: [London]
Repository: Published
Document Type: PLfc[3]
[Photograph of Symphony in White, No. 2: The Little White Girl[4].]
To Swinburne -[5]
from J. McNeill Whistler
[butterfly signature]
This document is protected by copyright.
Notes:
1. [April 1881/1882]
Dated from signatures.
2. Algernon Charles Swinburne
Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837-1909), poet and critic [more]. Symphony in White, No. 2: The Little White Girl (YMSM 52) inspired Swinburne to write the poem which starts 'Come snow, come wind or thunder,/ High up in air,/ I watch my face and wonder/ At my bright hair;' (A. C. Swinburne, Poems and Ballads, London, 1866, pp. 149-52). When the picture was exhibited at 97th Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts, Royal Academy, London, 1865 (cat. no. 530) the first two verses were published in the catalogue and printed on gold paper to be attached to the frame (see Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Life of James McNeill Whistler, 2 vols, London and Philadelphia, 1908, 1, pp. 128-29).
3. PLfc
The photograph has not been traced, but was sold at auction, Sotheby, London, 11 July 1996 (lot 236).
4. Symphony in White, No. 2: The Little White Girl
Symphony in White, No. 2: The Little White Girl (YMSM 52), a portrait of Joanna Hiffernan (b. ca 1843), JW's model and mistress [more], was at that time in the collection of John Gerald Potter (1829-1908), wallpaper manufacturer and patron [more].
5. To Swinburne ... Whistler
Inscribed in black ink on the mount below a photograph of Symphony in White, No. 2: The Little White Girl (YMSM 52).