James McNeill Whistler (Lowell, Massachusetts, 1834 - 1903, London, England)
Study of Harmony in Blue and Gold: The Peacock Room, about 1885
Ink on paper, 17.8 x 11.1 cm (7 x 4 3/8 in.)
This small sketch, done in ink on a narrow piece of paper, is not very detailed. It is a drawing of a pair of three over three paned windows arranged vertically and inset in a paneled wall. The artist has drawn the widows with fewer than two dozen economical strokes of his pen; nevertheless, the windows’ form and position in space is clear. Paneling is indicated by a few vertical slashes on the short inset wall to the left of the window and depth is achieved with three bold horizontal or diagonal swipes. The drawing shows a bit of decoration in the middle section of the inset paneling. There is a short column of irregular, sometimes slightly overlapping, eyebrow shaped semi-circles and a few, ink filled, smaller circles. The crudely drawn decoration on the paneling resembles scales or the eye of a peacock feather.
Long Gallery
Commentary
Isabella Stewart Gardner kept meticulous records of many of her acquisitions. In keeping with this legacy, object information is continually being reviewed, updated, and enriched in order to give greater access to the collection.