Caprice in Purple and Gold: The Golden Screen

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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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1860s

• Name

  Whistler, James McNeill, Freer, Charles Lang, Flower, Cyril

• Place

  United States

• Topic

  Art, American Art, Screen, Ukiyo-e

• Culture

  Americans

• Object Type

  Paintings