James McNeill Whistler, 1834–1903, American, active in Britain (from 1859)
Title:
Nocturne in Blue and Silver
Date:
1872 to 1878, butterfly added ca. 1885
Materials & Techniques:
Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
17 1/2 x 24 inches (44.5 x 61 cm)
Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering:
Signed in monogram with butterfly, lower left
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Fund
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1994.19
Classification:
Paintings
Collection:
Paintings and Sculpture
Subject Terms:
dark | marine art | seascape | signature (name) | town | waterfront | boat | blue | abstract art | night | darkness | industry | water | music | factories | clock tower | buildings | river | shore (landform) | lights | sea
Associated Places:
England | United Kingdom | Thames | London | Chelsea | Battersea | Greater London
Currently On View:
On view
Exhibition History:
In a New Light: 500 Years of British Art (Yale Center for British Art, 2025-04-01 - 2026-01-30)In a New Light: Paintings from the Yale Center for British Art (Yale University Art Gallery, 2023-03-24 - 2023-12-03)Whistler in Paris, London and Venice (Yale University Art Gallery, 2015-01-30 - 2015-07-15)James McNeil Whistler Retrospective (Japan) (The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, 2014-09-13 - 2014-11-16)James McNeil Whistler Retrospective (Japan) (The Yokohama Museum of Art, 2014-12-16 - 2015-03-01)An American in London: Whistler and the Thames (Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, 2014-05-02 - 2014-08-14)An American in London: Whistler and the Thames (Addison Gallery of American Art, 2014-02-01 - 2014-04-13)Like Breath on Glass - Painting Softly from James McNeill Whistler through Arthur B. Davies (Clark Art Institute, 2008-06-22 - 2008-10-19)Art and Music in Britain: Four Encounters, 1730-1900 (Yale Center for British Art, 2006-10-05 - 2006-12-31)Whistler " The Naval Review " (Yale Center for British Art, 2005-05-19 - 2005-08-15)Turner , Whistler , Monet (Musée d'Orsay, 2004-10-16 - 2005-01-16)After Whistler (High Museum of Art, 2003-11-22 - 2004-02-10)After Whistler (The Detroit Institute of Arts, 2004-03-06 - 2004-05-20)This Other Eden : British Paintings from the Paul Mellon Collection at Yale (Art Gallery of New South Wales, 1998-05-01 - 1998-07-05)This Other Eden : British Paintings from the Paul Mellon Collection at Yale (Queensland Art Gallery, 1998-07-15 - 1998-09-06)This Other Eden : British Paintings from the Paul Mellon Collection at Yale (Art Gallery of South Australia, 1998-09-16 - 1998-11-15)A Palace of Art in Victorian England - The Grosvenor Gallery (Denver Art Museum, 1996-06-01 - 1996-08-25)A Palace of Art in Victorian England - The Grosvenor Gallery (Yale Center for British Art, 1996-03-01 - 1996-04-28)James McNeill Whistler (Tate Britain, 1994-10-12 - 1995-01-08)James McNeill Whistler (National Gallery of Art, 1995-05-28 - 1995-08-20)
Publications:
M. V. Alper, American Mythologies in Painting, Arts Magazine, vol. 46, Summer 1972, p. 50, N1 A415 OVERSISE (HAAS)Timothy J. Barringer, Art & music in Britain : four encounters, 1730-1900 (exhibition and label text), , New Haven, 2006, [p. 6], V 1699:1 (YCBA)Timothy J. Barringer, Art & music in Britain : four encounters, 1730-1900, , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 2006, pp. 30-31, 34, V 1699 (YCBA)David Bindman, The History of British Art, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 2008, p. 85 (vol. 3), fig. 55, N6761 +H57 2008 Oversize (YCBA)Susan P. Casteras, The Grosvenor Gallery, a palace of art in Victorian England , Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, 1996, pp. 97, 199, no. 68, fig. 53, pl. 32, N1165 G76 G76 1996 (YCBA)Richard Dorment, James McNeill Whistler, Tate Publishing, London, 1994, p. 128, no. 52, NJ18 W57 D67 1994 (YCBA) +Facetiae [The Newest Thing in Wall-Paper], London Reader: Of Literature, Science, Art and General Information, vol. 32, January 1879, p. 238, Available in British Periodicals Database.Grosvenor notes 1878 : an illustrated catalogue of the summer exhibition, Accessed January 13, 2023, p. 20, no. 53, https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=gri.ark:/13960/t52g3463j&view=1up&seq=1Susan Hobbs, Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Magazine Antiques, vol. 120, November 1981, pp. 1194-202, NK1125 A3 OVERSIZE (HAAS)Donald Holden, James McNeill Whistler: Master of Limited Color, American Artist, vol. 37, April 1973, pp. 38-43, N1 A243 OVERSIZE (HAAS)Terry Ingram, A Win for Yale, ART News, February 1995, p. 33, N1 A6 OVERSIZE (HAAS)James McNeill Whistler retrospective, Nihon Ho¯so¯ Kyo¯kai, Tokyo, 2014, pp. 181, 277, cat. no. 124, NJ18.W57 J35 2014 OVERSIZE (YCBA)Lagoon, Venice : Nocturne in Blue and Silver (Art Reproduction), ArtsCanada, v. 28, October 1971, p. 18, J10 Ar918 OVERSIZE (HAAS)Katharine Jordan Lochnan, Mystical Landscapes From Vincent van Gogh to Emily Carr, Toronto, Ontario, p. 174-175, ND1340 .L63 2016 (LC) OversizeKatharine Jordan Lochnan, Turner, Whistler, Monet, Tate Publishing, London, 2004, no. 48, NJ18 T85 L5652 2004 (YCBA) +Margaret F. MacDonald, An American in London : Whistler and the Thames, London, 2013, pp. 128, 174, cat. no. 65, NJ18.W57 M2422 2013 OVERSIZE (YCBA)Julia Marciari-Alexander, This other Eden : Paintings from the Yale Center for British Art, , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 1998, p. 164, no. 67, ND1314.3 Y36 1998 (YCBA)John McDonald, A Feast of Mellon, Sydney Morning Herald, May 9, 1998, p. 14, ProQuest News & Newspapers : Global NewsstreamLinda Merrill, After Whistler, the artist and his influence on American painting , Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, 2003, pp. 4, 110-11, no. 6, NJ18 W57 A4 2003 + (YCBA)Christopher Neve, View of the River: James McNeill Whistler in London, Country Life, v. 148, December 10 1970, pp. 1122-23, S3 C68 + (YCBA)Jon Newman, Whistler and Battersea : the aesthetics of erasure and redevelopment, British Art Studies, Accessed January 26, 2023, fig. 10, https://www.britishartstudies.ac.uk/issues/issue-index/issue-22/whistler-and-batterseaNocturne in Blue and Silver : Lagoon in Venice (Art Reproduction), ART News, v. 44, November 1, 1945, p. 21, N1 A6 OVERSIZE (HAAS)Nocturne in Blue and Silver, no. 1 (Art Reproduction), Art Quarterly, v. 10, 1947, p. 11?, J10 Ar81 + (LSF)Paul Mellon's Legacy : a passion for British art [large print labels], , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 2007, v. 1, N5220 M552 P381 2007 OVERSIZE (YCBA)Elizabeth Robins Pennell, The life of James McNeill Whistler, J.B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia London, 1911, pp. 161-67, NJ18 W57 P37 1911 (HAAS)Dianne Hauserman Pilgrim, Revival of Pastels in Nineteenth Century America: The Society of Painters in Pastel, American Art Journal, vol. 10, November 1978, pp. 43-62, N6505 A618 (HAAS) Available online through JStor.Marc SImpson, Like breath on glass, Whistler, Inness, and the art of painting softly , Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Mass. New Haven, 2008, pp. 112-3, pl. 1, NJ18 W57 S57 2008 (YCBA)Robert Slifkin, James Whistler as the invisible man, anti-aestheticism and artistic vision , Oxford Art Journal, vol. 29, no. 1, March, 2006, p. 58, fig. 3, V 1671 (YCBA) Also available online (Orbis)Honora Twycross, Japanese Pictures, English Illustrated Magazine, vol. 18, September 1904, p. 529, WD 9118 (LSF - Mudd)Andrew McLaren Young, The paintings of James McNeill Whistler, Yale University Press, New Haven, 1980, no. 151 (v. 1), pl. 150 (v. 2), NJ18 W57 Y69 1980 (YCBA) +
Gallery Label:
Depicted at nighttime and cloaked in fog and smoke, Whistler’s haunting Thames landscape can be difficult to read. The buildings of Morgan’s Crucible Company at the top left as well as the river barge and its solitary bargeman all fade into the murky gloom. The moodiness of the scene is the result not of the natural atmospherics caused by the river, but rather of the increase of smoke and pollution in the London sky due to unchecked industrialization. The artist adopted the word “nocturne” in the painting’s title from Frédéric Chopin’s musical compositions, implying that viewers are meant to appreciate the work for its formal “harmonies” of color and tone. Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2025
Provenance:
Created by James McNeill Whistler (1834–1903), the artist; purchased by Henry Graves & Co., London, England, 1878 [1][a]; purchased by Wickham Flower (1835–1904), Great Tangley Manor, Surrey, England [2][b]; by inheritance to his wife, Elizabeth Weston Flower (née Walton) (1842–1920), London, England [3][c]; by whom given to the Shakespeare Memorial Gallery, Warwickshire, England by 1908 [d][e]; purchased by Thos. Agnew & Sons, London, England, June 3, 1911 [f]; purchased by Knoedler & Co., New York, NY, United States, June 6, 1911 [g]; purchased by Arthur Harris Whittemore (1864–1927), Naugatuck, CT, United States, January 12, 1912 [4][h][i]; bequest, to the J.H. Whittemore Company, Naugatuck, CT, United States [5][j]; acquired by Harris Whittemore (1894–1974), Middlebury, CT, United States; by descent to his son, John Howard Whittemore (1918–1992), Middlebury, CT, United States [k]; by inheritance to his wife, Priscilla Whittemore (née Stimson) (1922–1998), Middlebury, CT, United States; purchased by the Yale Center for British Art, 1994 [l]. Notes: --- [1] Henry Graves (1806–1892) was a London-based printseller and publisher who became sole proprietor of his firm in 1844, wherein he also engaged in art dealing. Graves was also a founder of the publications Art Journal and Illustrated London News. Graves lived near Whistler and regularly worked with the artist to publish mezzotints and sell artworks. Graves also possessed a collection of works on paper by Whistler, many of which were sold at auction on April 20, 1893. --- Following his death, his two sons Boydell and Algernon Graves took over the firm. His younger son, Algernon (1845–1922), went on to become a renowned art historian who greatly contributed to the development of modern provenance research. [2] Wickham Flower was an English solicitor and art collector. Flower and his wife were friends with Whistler and regularly corresponded with the artist throughout the 1880s to the 1900s. Following Flower’s death, an auction of his remaining pictures was held on December 17, 1904. Two oil paintings by Whistler featured in this sale, not including this picture. His collection of Whistler etchings was sold the following week on December 20, 1904. [3] Elizabeth Weston Flower (née Walton) was a collector and artist best known for her floral paintings. In 1905, she lent the painting to the Memorial Exhibition of the Works of the late J. McNeill Whistler at New Gallery as no. 38, ‘Arrangement in Grey and Gold, Nocturne, Battersea Bridge.’ [4] Arthur Harris Whittemore was an art collector and businessman. He began developing his art collection in the 1890s and acquired works mostly by French Impressionists, including Claude Monet, Mary Cassatt, and Edgar Degas. In 1896, Whittemore purchased one of Whistler’s most famous artworks Symphony in White, No. 1: The White Girl (1861–62), now at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. [5] As dictated by Whittemore’s will, his remaining paintings were to be divided amongst his widow, Justine Morgan Whittemore (née Brockway) (1866–1940), sister, Getrude Buckingham Whittemore (1874–1941), and three children. Many paintings from Whittemore’s collection were bequeathed to the family corporation J.H. Whittemore Company, of which the Whittemore family held shares and used to manage their assets. Whittemore’s son, Harris Whittemore, and daughter, Gertrude Spencer Upson (née Whittemore) (1903–1987), served as officers of the company. --- The company lent many paintings from the family’s collection to art exhibitions throughout the early twentieth century. From June 9 to September 10, 1939, the J.H. Whittemore Company lent this painting to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts’ exhibition as no. 130, ‘Thames – Nocturne.’ [6] Harris Whittemore was the only son of Arthur Harris Whittemore. As an officer of the J.H. Whittemore Company, he likely acquired the painting through the company or purchased it directly when the shares of his deceased mother and aunt were sold in the early 1940s. Citations: --- [a] M. Knoedler & Co., Painting stock book 5: 8800-12652, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession no. 2012.M.54 (bx.5), 236. http://hdl.handle.net/10020/2012m54b5. [b] Andrew McLaren Young, Margaret MacDonald, and Robin Spencer, The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler (Yale University Press, 1980), 89–90, no. 151. [c] The International Society of Sculptors, Painters, and Gravers, Catalogue of the Memorial Exhibition of the Works of the Late J. McNeill Whistler (William Heinemann for the Society of Sculptors, Painters, and Gravers, 1905), 90. https://archive.org/embed/memorialexhibit00whis. [d] Young, MacDonald, and Spencer, The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler, 89–90, no. 151. [e] Elizabeth Robins Pennell, The Life of James McNeill Whistler, vol. 1 (William Heinemann, 1908), 161. https://archive.org/embed/lifejamesmcneil1penn. [f] Thomas Agnew & Sons Picture Stock Books, 1909–19, National Gallery, Research Centre. NGA27/1/1/11 (Stock No. 3701), 58. https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/research/research-centre/agnew-s-stock-books/reference-nga27-1-1-11-1909-19. [g] M. Knoedler & Co., Painting stock book 5: 8800-12652, 236. [h] Ibid. [i] Nathaniel Pousette-Dart, Distinguished American Arts: James McNeill Whistler (Frederick A. Stokes Co., 1924), 22. https://www.google.com/books/edition/James_McNeill_Whistler/BwPWAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0. [j] M.A. de Wolfe Howe et al., "Paintings, Drawings, Prints from Private Collections in New England," in Art in New England (Harvard University Press, 1939), 90–91. https://archive.org/embed/in.ernet.dli.2015.279626. [k] Linda Merrill, After Whistler: The Artist and His Influence on American Painting (Yale University Press and High Museum of Art, 2003), 110. https://archive.org/embed/afterwhistlerart0000unse_y3h7. [l] Terry Ingram, "A Win for Yale," ARTnews (February 1995): 33.