Portrait of Whistler (1877): Artwork and History

Portrait of Whistler (1877) is in the Art Institute of Chicago collection. The museum lists its creator attribution as Carlo Pellegrini Italian, worked in England, 1839-1889.

The work and its context

The Art Institute of Chicago describes the work:

Caricaturist Carlo Pellegrini, an admirer of Whistler, participated in London’s club life. He was member of the Beefsteak Club as well as the Arts Club, where one evening he drew this impromptu portrait of Whistler on a scrap of paper and gave it to Justin McCarthy, an Irish literary figure and politician. About two years later, Whistler presented Pellegrini with a freely drawn sketch after his oil painting Arrangement in Brown and Black: Portrait of Miss Rosa Corder (1876–78; Frick Collection, New York), referring to the Italian-born artist in his dedication as “mon Eleve,” or “my pupil.”

Object facts

• Title: Portrait of Whistler
• Date: 1877
• Artist attribution: Carlo Pellegrini Italian, worked in England, 1839-1889
• Place of origin: Italy
• Medium: Brush and dark brown ink on off-white wove paper
• Dimensions: Sheet: 10.5 × 11 cm (4 3/16 × 4 3/8 in.)
• Type: Drawing and Watercolor
• Department: Prints and Drawings
• Reference number: 1933.230

Collection credit

Gift of Walter S. Brewster

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The description above is credited to the Art Institute of Chicago and reused under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0; HTML formatting has been converted to plain text. Other catalogue metadata and the public-domain image are provided under CC0 1.0.