Venus

Maker(s)
Artist: James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)
Historical period(s)
ca. 1868, worked on again ca. 1879-1903
Medium
Oil on millboard mounted on wood panel
Dimensions
H x W (painting): 61.9 x 45.6 cm (24 3/8 x 17 15/16 in)
Geography
United States
Credit Line
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art
Accession Number
F1903.175a-b
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Painting
Type

Oil painting

Keywords
United States, woman
Provenance

From 1903 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from James McNeill Whistler in July 1903 [3]

From 1920
Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [2]

Notes:

[1] See Original Whistler List, Paintings, pg. 7, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.

[2] 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.

Previous Owner(s) and Custodian(s)

James McNeill Whistler (C.L. Freer source) 1834-1903
Charles Lang Freer 1854-1919

Published References
  • Geneva Frances Morgan Tilleux. The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler, 1857-1873. Ann Arbor. fig. 50.
  • Judith Elaine Gorder. James McNeill Whistler: A Study of the Oil Paintings 1855-1869. Ann Arbor. fig. 56.
  • Andrew McLaren Young, Margaret F. MacDonald, Robin Spencer. The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler. Studies in British Art 2 vols. New Haven, 1980. vol. 2: pl. 67.
  • Bunkio Matsuki. James A. McNeill Whistler: In Memoriam. vol. 5. p. 9.
  • Grace Dunham Guest. Whistler: The Artist and the Man. Smithsonian Institution Radio Program, vol. 10, no. 3 New York. p. 13.
  • David Park Curry. James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art. Washington and New York, 1984. pp. 44, 107, pl. 7.
  • Elizabeth Prettejohn. The Modernity of Ancient Sculpture. p. 73, fig. 17.
  • Linda Merrill. The Peacock Room: A Cultural Biography. Washington and New Haven. p. 97, fig. 2.16.
  • Elizabeth Prettejohn. Art for Art's Sake: Aestheticism in Victorian Painting. p. 113.
  • Humans: Terra Foundation Essays. Vol. 5, Chicago, IL, January 2022. p. 116, fig. 1.
  • Elizabeth Prettejohn. Beauty & Art. Oxford and New York. p. 135.
  • Bernhard Sickert. Whistler. London and New York. cat. 32, p. 154.
  • The New Painting of the 1860s. New Haven and London. p. 178, fig. 158.
Collection Area(s)
American Art
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
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