UNIVERSITY of GLASGOW

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Seymour, Standing

Impression: Freer Gallery of Art
Freer Gallery of Art
(1898.405)
Number: 10
Date: 1857/1858
Medium: etching
Size: 98 x 67 mm
Signed: 'J. W.' at lower right
Inscribed: no
Set/Publication: no
No. of States: 2
Known impressions: 2
Catalogues: K.6; M.5; T.-
Impressions taken from this plate  (2)

KEYWORD

boy, boy standing, clothing, dress, kilt, portrait.

TITLE

Whistler's original title is not known. The published titles vary only in punctuation, for example:

'Seymour Standing' (1909, Howard Mansfield (1849-1938)). 1
'Seymour, Standing' (1910, Edward Guthrie Kennedy (1849-1932)). 2

Kennedy's title, 'Seymour, Standing' (with punctuation) is preferable.

1: Mansfield 1909 (cat. no. 5).

2: Kennedy 1910 (cat. no. 6).

DESCRIPTION

A boy stands facing to the right. He has thick wavy hair, reaching his collar, parted at his right with a heavy fringe. A long black ribbon-like cravat is tied in an untidy bow round his short, turned-down collar. His hands are deep in the pockets of his jacket, which fastens with a single button at the top; he wears a short, buttoned waistcoat; a loosely gathered skirt or 'kilt' reaching just below his knees, trimmed with a broad band or ribbon just above the hem; long plaid socks; and light-weight shoes, possibly dancing shoes. The figure is lit from the right, and casts a shadow to left, which suggests a wall just behind the figure. No other background is indicated.

SITTER

Francis Seymour Haden, Jr (1850-1918). This would have been drawn in the Haden's house in Sloane Street, London.

DISCUSSION

Seymour is seen wearing the same dress in Seymour Haden, Jr, Seated [9]. The dress is typical of a middle-class Victorian boy's winter clothes. 3 Kennedy describes the dress as 'Scotch'. 4 However, the kilt is not tartan nor is Seymour wearing a sporran or other specifically Scottish accessories.

3: i.e. 'Boy's Dress', Godey's Lady's Book, December 1859, p. 543, www.uvm.edu/~hag/godey (accessed 2009).

4: Kennedy 1910 (cat. no. 6).