Study for "Arrangement in Grey and Black, No. 2: Portrait of Thomas Carlyle" (1872–73): Artwork and History

Study for "Arrangement in Grey and Black, No. 2: Portrait of Thomas Carlyle" (1872–73) is in the Art Institute of Chicago collection. The museum lists its creator attribution as James McNeill Whistler (American, 1834–1903).

The work and its context

The Art Institute of Chicago describes the work:

In 1872, James McNeill Whistler began a large-scale portrait of Scottish historian and philosopher Thomas Carlyle, who lived near the artist in London. Whistler executed several studies, including this one, which strongly resembles the finished painting. Carlyle endured numerous sittings, as Whistler labored over the portrait with particular emphasis on the aesthetics of the sitter’s black coat. Concerned with harmonious arrangements of color and form, the artist was less interested in depicting the details of Carlyle’s face. The composition is strikingly similar to Whistler’s Arrangement in Grey and Black: Portrait of the Artist’s Mother (1871; Musée d’Orsay), also known as Whistler’s Mother.

Object facts

• Title: Study for "Arrangement in Grey and Black, No. 2: Portrait of Thomas Carlyle"
• Date: 1872–73
• Artist attribution: James McNeill Whistler (American, 1834–1903)
• Place of origin: United States
• Medium: Oil on canvas
• Dimensions: 28.6 × 21 cm (11 1/4 × 8 1/4 in.)
• Type: Painting
• Department: Arts of the Americas
• Reference number: 1956.763

Collection credit

Gift of Emily Crane Chadbourne

View the original

Explore the artwork in the Art Institute's collection, including its image and the museum's current catalogue details.

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.