Alfred Chapman, 1839-1917
Nationality: English
Date of Birth: 11 January 1839
Place of Birth: Preston, Lancashire
Place of Death: 8A Oxford Road, Southport, Lancashire
Identity:
Alfred Chapman's family lived in Liverpool. His brothers and sisters included Ellen, George and Dr Chapman, all of whom JW knew.
Life:
An engineer and industrialist, Chapman worked at the Phoenix foundry in Liverpool. He was one of JW's major patrons in the 1870s. JW may have met him through F. R. Leyland. Between 1874 and 1878 Chapman bought Nocturne: Blue and Silver - Bognor y100 (painted 1875/1876); Nocturne: Blue and Gold - Southampton Water y117, bought by 22 June 1874 (#11251); Blue and Gold: Channel y159, possibly bought in 1874 (see letters of 5 and 17 July 1876); Nocturne: Battersea Reach y160, bought on 22 June 1874 (#11251); Cremorne y168, bought [6] November 1877 through C. A. Howell; and lastly, Nocturne: Grey and Gold - Chelsea Snow y174 painted by 1876 and bought by 1878, again possibly through Howell. Not all these pictures have been identified with extant pictures.
Bibliography:
Young, Andrew McLaren, Margaret F. MacDonald, Robin Spencer and Hamish Miles, The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler, New Haven and London, 1980, (cat. nos. 89, 100, 117, 120, 159-60, 168, 174).