Caprice in Purple and Gold: The Golden Screen

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Terms of Use

Creative Commons

At A Glance

  • Period

    1864
  • Geography

    United States
  • Material

    Oil on wood panel
  • Dimension

    H x W (painting): 50.1 × 68.5 cm (19 3/4 × 27 in)
  • Accession Number

    F1904.75a
  • EDAN ID

    edanmdm:fsg_F1904.75a

Object Details

  • Artist

    James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)
  • Previous custodian or owner

    Cyril Flower (1843-1907) (C.L. Freer source)
    Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)
  • Provenance

    1864-Before 1892
    James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903), painted in 1864 [1]
    By 1892-1904
    Cyril Flower, The Lord Battersea (1843-1907), method of acquisition unknown [2]
    1904-1920
    Charles Lang Freer, purchased from The Lord Battersea, through William Merchant and Company, London [3]
    From 1920
    Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer [4]
    Notes:
    [1] See note 2.
    [2] When Cyril Flower purchased the painting from Whistler remains unknown. However, Flowers owned it by 1892 when he loaned it to the Goupil Gallery's exhibition "Nocturnes, Marines, & Chevalet Pieces," see: Goupil Gallery, "Nocturnes, Marines, & Chevalet Pieces: Small Collection Kindly Lent by Their Owners" [exhibition catalogue] (London: Goupil Gallery, March 1892), no. 14. Flower sold the painting to Charles Lang Freer in 1904, see note 3.
    [3] See Voucher No. 20, July 19, 1904, from Freer to Cyril Flower through William Merchant & Co, Box 112, Folder 9, Charles Lang Freer Papers, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, copy in object file.
    [4] 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.
    Research completed August 9, 2022.
  • Origin

    United States
  • Credit Line

    Gift of Charles Lang Freer
  • Type

    Painting
  • Restrictions and Rights

    CC0 - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)

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