Chelsea Children

Object Details

• Artist

  James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)

• Description

  A group of children looking into a shop window; signed with the butterfly to the right of the shop door.

• Signatures

  Brown butterfly in center of right half

• Paper/Support

  On hot-pressed, wove paper mounted overall to board.

• Provenance

  From 1902 to 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Company of the Butterfly, London, in 1902 [1]

  From 1920

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

  Notes:

  [1] See Original Whistler List, Paintings, pg. 16, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. Society of the Butterfly [Company of the Butterfly] was James McNeill Whistler's London business through which he sold his works. Mr. Freer purchased this work in May 1900, although it was paid for on June 16, 1902 (see Accession List, Collections Management Office, as well as Curatorial Remarks in the object record).

  [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.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Whistler: Streetscapes, Urban Change (November 18, 2023 to May 4, 2024)

  Whistler in Watercolor (May 18 to November 3, 2019)

  Whistler's Neighborhood: Impressions of a Changing London (September 8, 2012 to September 8, 2013)

  James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art—Whistler and Modern Life (May 11, 1984 to December 16, 1984)

  American Paintings: James McNeill Whistler (November 11, 1976 to March 18, 1981)

  Whistler Pastels and Water Colors (July 1 to July 31, 1974)

  Exposition des Oeuvres de James McNeill Whistler (May 1905)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Company of the Butterfly (1897-1903) (C.L. Freer source)

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

• Origin

  United States

• Credit Line

  Gift of Charles Lang Freer

• Type

  Painting

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

  There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1890s

• Name

  Company of the Butterfly, Freer, Charles Lang

• Place

  United States

• Topic

  Art, Iron oxide red, Bone black, Store front, Zinc white, Cerulean blue, Burnt umber, Mounting, Yellow ocher, Charles Lang Freer collection, Mars pigment, American Art, Raw sienna, Prussian blue, Children, Raw umber, Burnt sienna

• Culture

  Americans

• Object Type

  Paintings