James McNeill Whistler (Lowell, Massachusetts, 1834 - 1903, London, England)
The Little Note in Yellow and Gold, 1886
Chalk and pastel on brown paper , 27 x 14 cm (10 5/8 x 5 1/2 in.)
Little Note in Yellow and Gold is a vertical, rectangular chalk and pastel drawing. This delicate full-length portrait depicts Isabella Stewart Gardner. Her body faces slightly to our right as she gazes directly at the viewer with a slight smile on her face and her chin tilted slightly upward. She is dressed in a long white gown. Although loosely drawn, her dress appears to have a simple bodice with a skirt that is gathered at the side that falls to a train in the back and ruffles in the front. The puffy sleeves end at her elbows. A yellow shawl is held at her side in her right hand and in the crook of her left elbow.
Close
Gilbert Wendel Longstreet and Morris Carter. General Catalogue (Boston, 1935), p. 201.
Morris Carter. Isabella Stewart Gardner and Fenway Court (Boston, 1925; Reprint, Boston, 1972), pp. 103-05.
Morris Carter. "Mrs. Gardner & The Treasures of Fenway Court" in Alfred M. Frankfurter (ed.). The Gardner Collection (New York, 1946), p. 6, ill. 3.
Corinna Lindon Smith. Interesting People (Norman, Oklahoma, 1962), p. 156.
“Notes, Records, Comments.” Gardner Museum Calendar of Events 6, no. 19 (6 Jan. 1963), p. 1. (excerpting Morris Carter, pp. 103-05)
Philip Hendy. European and American Paintings in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1974), pp. 292-93 (as "Mrs. Gardner in Yellow and Gold").
Margaret F. MacDonald. James McNeill Whistler: Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours, a Catalogue Raisonné (New Haven, 1995), pp. 412-13, no. 1116.
Alan Chong et al. (eds.) Eye of the Beholder: Masterpieces from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 2003), pp. 196-97.
Cynthia Saltzman. Old Masters, New World: America’s Raid on Europe’s Great Pictures (New York: Penguin Books, 2008), p. 53.
Object details
Accession number
P25e1
Primary Creator
James McNeill Whistler (Lowell, Massachusetts, 1834 - 1903, London, England)
Full title
The Little Note in Yellow and Gold
Creation Date
1886
Provenance
Commissioned by Isabella Stewart Gardner from James McNeill Whistler, London, 30 October 1886 for 100 guineas.
Marks
Signed (center right): Whistler's butterfly signature
Dimensions
27 x 14 cm (10 5/8 x 5 1/2 in.)
Display Media
Chalk and pastel on brown paper
Dimension Notes
Frame: 49.85 x 37.47 cm (19 5/8 x 14 3/4 in.)
Web Commentary
This small pastel is a portrait of Isabella Stewart Gardner. Gardner and James McNeill Whistler enjoyed a long relationship that began as patron and artist, but gradually grew into a warm friendship. Author Henry James introduced the two in 1879, while the Gardners were in London with their three nephews. Isabella sat for this portrait in 1886 and over the next several years, acquired more of his works. Four of these are on display in the Veronese Room. As a symbol of their friendship, Whistler gave Gardner his bamboo walking stick which she displayed in the Sargent / Whistler Case in the Long Gallery.
Permanent Gallery Location
Veronese Room
Bibliography
Catalogue. Fenway Court. (Boston, 1903), p. 18. (as "Pastel," by Whistler)Gilbert Wendel Longstreet and Morris Carter. General Catalogue (Boston, 1935), p. 201.
Morris Carter. Isabella Stewart Gardner and Fenway Court (Boston, 1925; Reprint, Boston, 1972), pp. 103-05.
Morris Carter. "Mrs. Gardner & The Treasures of Fenway Court" in Alfred M. Frankfurter (ed.). The Gardner Collection (New York, 1946), p. 6, ill. 3.
Corinna Lindon Smith. Interesting People (Norman, Oklahoma, 1962), p. 156.
“Notes, Records, Comments.” Gardner Museum Calendar of Events 6, no. 19 (6 Jan. 1963), p. 1. (excerpting Morris Carter, pp. 103-05)
Philip Hendy. European and American Paintings in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1974), pp. 292-93 (as "Mrs. Gardner in Yellow and Gold").
Margaret F. MacDonald. James McNeill Whistler: Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours, a Catalogue Raisonné (New Haven, 1995), pp. 412-13, no. 1116.
Alan Chong et al. (eds.) Eye of the Beholder: Masterpieces from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 2003), pp. 196-97.
Cynthia Saltzman. Old Masters, New World: America’s Raid on Europe’s Great Pictures (New York: Penguin Books, 2008), p. 53.
Rights and reproductions
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Veronese Room
Commentary
This small pastel is a portrait of Isabella Stewart Gardner. Gardner and James McNeill Whistler enjoyed a long relationship that began as patron and artist, but gradually grew into a warm friendship. Author Henry James introduced the two in 1879, while the Gardners were in London with their three nephews. Isabella sat for this portrait in 1886 and over the next several years, acquired more of his works. Four of these are on display in the Veronese Room. As a symbol of their friendship, Whistler gave Gardner his bamboo walking stick which she displayed in the Sargent / Whistler Case in the Long Gallery.