
Public collection via the Art Institute of Chicago
AT-00001509Portrait of Dr. William McNeill Whistler
Provenance
c. 1873-February 27, 1900, probably William McNeil Whistler, London (gift from the artist); February 27, 1900-unknown, Mrs. William McNeill Whistler, his widow, London. Unknown-October 19, 1918, Burton Mansfield, New Haven, Conneticut; October 19, 1918-January 28, 1919, Vose Galleries, Boston; January 28, 1919-unknown, William T. Cresmer, Chicago. Dates unknown, Anderson Art Galleries, Chicago. Unknown-December 22, 1935, Mrs. Moses J. Wentworth, Chicago; December 22, 1935-June 20, 1958, Mr. and Mrs. John Wentworth, Chicago; June 20, 1958-July 1977, Mrs. John Wentworth, Chicago and Paris; July 1977-November 1, 1977, estate of Mrs. John Wentworth; given to the Art Institute of Chicago.
Exhibition history
London, New Gallery, Memorial Exhibition of the Works of the Late J. McNeill Whistler, First President of the International Society of Sculptors, Painters, and Gravers, Feb. 22–Mar. 31, 1905, cat. 103 (organized by the International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers). Pittsburgh, Carnegie Institute of Arts, Loan Exhibition of Paintings in Oil, Water Color, and Pastel, from the Collection of Mr. Burton Mansfield, of New Haven, Connecticut, Aug. 1–Dec. 30, 1911, cat. 71. Art Institute of Chicago, James McNeill Whistler, Jan. 13–Feb. 25, 1968, cat. 18, as Portrait of Dr. William McNeill Whistler (Portrait of My Brother); Utica, New York, Munson–Williams–Proctor Institute, Mar. 17–Apr. 28, 1968. Art Institute of Chicago, Whistler, Roussel: Linked Visions, June 20, 2015–Sept. 27, 2015, online catalog. Art Institute of Chicago, Whistler's Mother: An American Icon Returns to Chicago, Mar. 4–May 21, 2017, no cat.
Publications
International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers, Catalogue of Paintings, Drawings, Etchings and Lithographs: Memorial Exhibition of the Works of the Late James McNeill Whistler, exh. cat. (William Heinemann, 1905), 114, cat. 103, https://archive.org/details/memorialexhibit00whisa. Carnegie Institute Department of Fine Arts, Catalogue of a Loan Exhibition of Paintings in Oil, Water Color, and Pastel, from the Collection of Mr. Burton Mansfield, of New Haven, Connecticut, exh. cat. (Carnegie Institute, 1911), cat. 71. Frederick A. Sweet, James McNeill Whistler, exh. cat. (Art Institute of Chicago, 1968), 17, 66, cat. 18 (ill.), as Portrait of Dr. William McNeill Whistler (Portrait of My Brother). Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago, 73, no. 3 (May–June 1979), 10–11 (ill.). Margaret F. MacDonald and Grischka Petri, "Portrait of Dr. William McNeill Whistler," The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler: A Catalogue Raisonné, University of Glasgow, accessed June 3, 2020, cat. YMSM 123 (ill.), https://whistlerpaintings.gla.ac.uk/catalogue/display/?mid=y123. Stephanie L. Strother, “Cat. 12, The Artist in His Studio, 18665/66 and 1895,” in Whistler Paintings and Drawings at the Art Institute of Chicago, ed. Jay A. Clarke and Sarah Kelly Oehler (Art Institute of Chicago, 2020), cat. 8 (ill.), http://artic.edu/digitalwhistler. Jay A. Clarke and Sarah Kelly Oehler, eds., Whistler Paintings and Drawings at the Art Institute of Chicago (Art Institute of Chicago, 2020), cat. 12 (ill.), http://artic.edu/digitalwhistler. Alexis Clark, "Gray Area: Reconstructing Whistlerian Paint and Politics," in James McNeill Whistler, ed. Carol Jacobi, exh. cat. (Tate Enterprises, 2026), 140, 142, 144–45, no cat. no. (ill.).
Data retrieved from the Art Institute of Chicago on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- James McNeill Whistler (American, 1834–1903)
- Date
- 1871–73
- Medium
- Oil on panel
- Dimensions
- 43.7 × 34.8 cm (17 3/16 × 13 11/16 in.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- painting
- Style
- Impressionism
- Place
- London
- Department
- Arts of the Americas
- Credit line
- Gift of Mary T. Wentworth in memory of her husband, John
- Accession no.
- 1977.235
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Open-access museum record · AT-00001509
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