Portrait of Whistler

Object Details

• Artist

  Henri Fantin-Latour (1836-1904)

• Label

  Whistler’s good friend Henri Fantin-Latour originally included this portrait as part of a large composition called Le toast: Hommage à la Verit&‌eacute; (The Toast: Homage to Truth) that also depicted such avant-garde figures as the painter Edouard Manet and the poet Charles Baudelaire. The Frenchmen wore conventional black suits in the group portrait. Whistler, however, insisted on distinguishing himself by wearing a colorful Chinese robe. Fantin’s group portrait and Whistler’s painting The Princess from the Land of Porcelain were exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1865. Critics ridiculed Fantin’s work, and he later destroyed it, leaving only this fragment of Whistler.

• Provenance

  To 1906

  Samuel Putnam Avery (1822-1904), New York, NY, to 1906 [1]

  From 1906 to 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Samuel Putnam Avery in 1906 [2]

  From 1920

  Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]

  Notes:

  [1] See Reserved List of Whistleriana, Wh. R. 1, L. 5807, pg. 1, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.

  [2] See note 1.

  [3] 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

  Peacock Room REMIX: Darren Waterston's "Filthy Lucre" (May 16, 2015 to June 4, 2017)

  Freer & Whistler: Points of Contact (February 23, 2008 to January 3, 2016)

  Picturing Whistler: Portraits and Self-Portraits (May 21 to December 3, 2000)

  Whistler & Japan (May 14, 1995 to January 1, 1996)

  American Paintings: James McNeill Whistler (January 17, 1985 to (end date unknown))

  American Paintings (September 10, 1981 to March 12, 1984)

  American Paintings (May 31, 1979 to June 17, 1980)

  American Paintings (October 14, 1978 to March 18, 1981)

  American Paintings (September 8, 1961 to May 2, 1973)

  American Paintings (June 9, 1960 to September 8, 1961)

  Untitled Exhibition, Scott & Fowles, 1951 (1951)

  American Paintings, Miscellaneous (May 2, 1923 to March 23, 1925)

  Portraits of Whistler and other Whistleriana (1918)

  James McNeill Whistler (April 09, 1915 to April 27, 1915)

  The Salon, 1865 (1865)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Samuel Putnam Avery (1822-1904) (C.L. Freer source)

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

• Origin

  France

• 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

  Avery, Samuel Putnam, Freer, Charles Lang

• Place

  France

• Topic

  Charles Lang Freer collection, Art, American Art, Portraits, Artists

• Culture

  Americans

• Object Type

  Paintings