Documents associated with: 2nd Summer Exhibition, Grosvenor Gallery, London, 1878
Record 18 of 20
System Number: 09201
Date: [16 April 1879][1]
Author: JW
Place: London
Recipient: George Aloysius Lucas[2]
Place: [Paris]
Repository: Baltimore Museum of Art, MD
Call Number: 19 folder, W-Lucas file
Document Type: ALS[3]
THE WHITE HOUSE
CHELSEA EMBANKMENT
Dear Lucas -
Miss Franklin[4] leaves tonight by the Newhaven & and Dieppe and will be at the St Lazare Station tomorrow by 11.45 in the morning. Don't you think you who have been so kind that it would be very charming in you [sic] if you were able to meet her. She only passes through[5] Paris and would [p. 2] leave by the same night train if you were not able to show her a little hospitality and perhaps obtain for her a little room in a small hotel where she could afford to stay for a couple of days - and if not too much trouble you would be too nice if you could show her the Louvre[6] & Paris just a little bit -
I need not tell you that she is very charming and that you will be delighted with her - You will easily recognize her - she sat for the picture[7] you liked so much in the Grosvenor last year -
She will tell you all about the art world in London - and thank you for me for all the trouble you have taken and all your kindness -
Ever Yours in great haste
J A McN. Whistler
This document is protected by copyright.
Envelope:
MonsMonsieur George Lucas
21. Rue de l'arc Triomphe
Barrière de l'Etoile
Paris
France
[postmark]: LONDON S. W. / Z / AP 16 / 79
[postmark:] [illegible] / 17 AVRIL
Notes:
1. [16 April 1879]
Date from postmark, confirmed by Lucas's diary entry dated 17 April 1879. See Randall, Lillian, ed., George A. Lucas: An American Art Agent in Paris, 1857-1909, Princeton, 1979, vol. 2, p. 472.
2. George Aloysius Lucas
George Aloysius Lucas (1824-1909), art dealer in Paris [more].
3. ALS
Published, with the incorrect date of 13 September 1879, in Mahey, John A., 'The Letters of James McNeill Whistler to George A. Lucas,' Art Bulletin, XLIX, September 1967, pp. 247-57, no. XVII.
4. Miss Franklin
Mary Maud Franklin (1857- ca 1941), JW's model and mistress [more]. She arrived in Paris on 17 April.
5. passes through
In fact, Maud stayed several days in Paris pending JW's arrival on 24 April 1879 (as recorded by Lucas in his diary). However, she is not mentioned between 21 and 23 April and may possibly have left town to visit Mrs Hamerton, née Franklin, sister of JW's mistress Maud Franklin, who lived in France (see JW to [O. J. de Macedo-Carvalho], #07523). JW and Maud finally returned to London on 27 April. See Randall, 1979, II, p. 472.
6. show her the Louvre
Lucas seems to complied enthusiastically with JW's request. His diary records on 18 April 'With Miss Franklin to the Louvre' and on 19 April: 'With Miss F to Luxembourg, to Pantheon, St Genevieves & Notre Dame [...] to races at Bois de Boulogne.' See Randall, 1979, II, p. 472.
7. picture
Arrangement in White and Black (YMSM 185) was amongst seven oils exhibited by JW at 2nd Summer Exhibition, Grosvenor Gallery, London, 1878.