UNIVERSITY of GLASGOW

arch, architecture, building, courtyard, monastery, people, washing.

Variations on the title are as follows:


'St Augustine. Bourges ' (1887/1888, Whistler). 1
'Court of the St. Augustine (Monastery) Blois' (1889, Whistler). 2
'St Augustine' (1889, Whistler). 3
'Court of the St. Augustin Monastery, Bourges' (1900, Caxton Club). 4
'St. Augustin' (1902, Philadelphia). 5
'Court of the Monastery of St. Augustine at Bourges' (1902, Edward Guthrie Kennedy (1849-1932)). 6
'Court of Monastery of St. Augustine, Bourges' (1909, Howard Mansfield (1849-1938)). 7


Whistler was wrong in listing this as Blois on one occasion. Mansfield's title 'Court of the Monastery of St Augustine, Bourges' is the preferred title based on Whistler's original titles.

A two-storey building is seen across a courtyard, drawn nearly parallel to the plate edge. It has three massive rounded arches, one leading in through a smaller arch to a dark interior and a flight of stairs, and the two to right, filled in except for a small square window. Part of another arch with a flight of stairs behind it is seen on the right side of the courtyard, while on the left side is a small lean-to building, possibly with shutters or windows and a slightly sloping roof, built right against the bricked-up remains of another arch in the far wall of the courtyard. In the upper floor there are four shuttered windows, the second and fourth from left being open, with people looking out. The eaves and roof are just visible above this, casting shadows to right. A long line of washing hangs across the courtyard to right. In the courtyard stand several women and children, including a woman at right standing with arms on hips, gazing up, possibly to check on the washing.

The old Augustinian convent, Rue Mirebeau, Bourges, France.

Buhot de Kersers describes its state in 1883; it was rebuilt in the late 16th and early 17th century 8