Lithograph printed on machine made laid paper, 1894
A number of late lithographs feature Whistler’s wife Beatrice, or her sister Birnie, in the interior or garden of the house in Rue du Bac, Paris, where the Whistlers moved in 1892. This is one of two portraits of Beatrice drawn on a single evening, 22 September 1894. She was already suffering from the cancer that killed her in May 1896, leaving Whistler devastated.
The embossed blind stamp indicates that this is one of the impressions published in November 1895 in The Studio. The original stone was printed onto transfer paper and transferred (with corrections) onto other stones to sustain the machine-printing of this large edition. The effect is crude compared to Suede Gloves above.
Bequeathed by G. J. F. Knowles 1959
Collections record: P.95-1959
