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Lot #6046
James Abbott McNeill Whistler Autograph Letter Signed

"You ask me what I would paint a portrait for?"

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Estimate: $1000+
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Description

"You ask me what I would paint a portrait for?"

ALS signed “J. McN. Whistler,” one page both sides, 6 x 4, no date. Handwritten letter in response to a potential patron, in part: "I am charmed, dear Mrs. Bacon, to know that your friends so really sympathized with the work in my studio—You ask me what I would paint a portrait for?—I should charge for a full length picture like the one of Lady Archibald Campbell, 600 guineas—and for a head and shoulders or bust 250 gs." In fine condition.

Among Whistler's later, impressionistic works is 'Arrangement in Black (The Lady in the Yellow Buskin),' a portrait of Augusta Clementina Carrington, wife of Archibald Campbell, Baron Blythswood. One of several portraits of Lady Campbell executed by Whistler, that painting is now in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Auction Info

  • Auction Title: Art, Literature, and Classical Music
  • Dates: #682 - Ended June 20, 2024





This item is Pre-Certified by PSA/DNA
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