Documents associated with: 4th Internationale Kunst-Ausstellung, Munich, 1889
Record 3 of 5
System Number: 01923
Date: [April 1889][1]
Author: JW
Place: London
Recipient: Deborah Delano Haden[2]
Place: [London]
Repository: Glasgow University Library
Call Number: MS Whistler H24
Document Type: MsLc[3]
'31a'[4]
'after marriage ? 1892'
My dear Sis -
Nellie[5] tells me that you would like to have the proper story of the latest scalp[6] I have gracefully taken -
Quite right too! you ought to know - History should be neatly written, so I enclose a truthful account - from the "Sporting and Dramatic News[7]", than which there could, in such matters, be no greater authority -
Write me a line to say you received it all right, and that you are pleased -
Always your affectionate brother
J. McN. Whistler
Did Willie[8] tell you that I had been elected an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Munich[9]? - and now I have had a letter from the German Ambassador[10] with the official announcement that H. R. H. the Prince Luitpold[11], Regent of Bavaria, has, "in the name of His Majesty, been graciously pleased" to confer upon me the Order of the Holy St Michael
["]Voila[12] [sic]! - ce que l'on dit de moi, dans la Gazette de Hol[l]ande!!!"
Tower House 28 Tite Street Chelsea, London
When you come up to town do come and see us - you and Trixie[13] couldn't help liking each other -
This document is protected by copyright.
Notes:
1. [April 1889]
Dated by reference to Bavarian honours (see below).
2. Deborah Delano Haden
Deborah ('Debo' or 'Sis') Delano Haden (1825-1908), née Whistler, JW's half-sister [more].
3. MsLc
Written in an unknown hand. The original version is at #13489. Another copy, by Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958), JW's sister-in-law [more], is #03422.
4. '31a'
These lines were written in unknown hands, the first, in red pencil, and the second, in pencil.
5. Nellie
Helen ('Nellie') Euphrosyne Whistler (1849-1917), née Ellen Ionides, JW's sister-in-law [more].
6. scalp
Possibly a dispute with the Royal Society of British Artists. See, for instance, JW's letter to H. H. Cauty, 30 March 1889 (#09398).
7. Sporting and Dramatic News
Reference not identified.
8. Willie
William McNeill Whistler (1836-1900), physician, JW's brother [more].
9. Royal Academy of Munich
JW had been awarded a gold medal for works exhibited at 4th Internationale Kunst-Austellung, Munich, 1889.
10. German Ambassador
Possibly Seraphim Eugène Spuller (1835-1893), politician and writer, Ministère de l'instruction publique et des beaux-arts [more]?
11. Prince Luitpold
Karl Joseph Wilhelm Ludwig Luitpold (1821-1912), Prince Regent of Bavaria [more].
12. Voila ... Holande
Fr., 'This is what they say of me, in the Dutch Gazette'. The quotation has not been identified.
13. Trixie
Beatrix Whistler (1857-1896), née Beatrice Philip, artist [more].