Drypoint, 1874. 212x136 mm; 8 3/8x5 3/8 inches, wide margins. MacDonald's eleventh state "b" (of 11b), restored after cancellation. A very good impression of this extremely scarce print.
MacDonald notes approximately 20 impressions prior to cancellation and another 20 impressions printed after cancellation, with unobtrusive cancellation lines (as here), for the Fine Art Society, London, around 1879.
This is a portrait of the youngest daughter of Whistler's (1834-1903) important patron, Liverpool shipping magnate, F. R. Leyland. Whistler's commission to "harmonize" the design work started by another artist in Leyland's house, which became known as the Peacock Room (or Harmony in Blue and Gold: The Peacock Room, now installed in the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.) for its bird motifs, 1876-77, resulted in a dispute over the artist's excessive work and exorbitant price for the work and a falling out with his key patron. Whistler is reported to have said to Leyland, "Ah, I have made you famous. My work will live when you are forgotten. Still, per chance, in the dim ages to come you will be remembered as the proprietor of the Peacock Room."
Provenance: A. A. Hahlo & Co., New York, with the label. Kennedy 110; Glasgow 136.
