The Guitar Player (M.W. Ridley) |  Hunterian Art Gallery (47010) | |
| Number: | 124 | |
| Date: | 1874/1875 | |
| Medium: | drypoint | |
| Size: | 279 x 179 mm | |
| Signed: | butterfly at right | |
| Inscribed: | no | |
| Set/Publication: | no | |
| No. of States: | 7 | |
| Known impressions: | 11 | |
| Catalogues: | K.140; M.138; W.122 | |
| Impressions taken from this plate (11) | ||
KEYWORDS
artist, guitar, man standing, musician, portrait.
TITLE
There are several minor variations, involving punctuation and the addition or omission of the definite article and the sitter's name, as follows:
'The Guitar player - (Ridley)' (1874/1875, Whistler). 1
'The Guitar player' (1875, Whistler). 2
'Guitar Player' (1877, Whistler). 3
'Ridley [(]"The Guitar player")' (1877, Whistler). 4
'The Guitar-Player' (1886, Frederick Wedmore (1844-1921)). 5
'Ridley' (1887, Whistler). 6
'The Guitar Player' (1910, Edward Guthrie Kennedy (1849-1932)). 7
Whistler apparently wanted to identify the sitter, so 'The Guitar Player (M. W. Ridley)' is based on his original title.
'The Guitar player - (Ridley)' (1874/1875, Whistler). 1
'The Guitar player' (1875, Whistler). 2
'Guitar Player' (1877, Whistler). 3
'Ridley [(]"The Guitar player")' (1877, Whistler). 4
'The Guitar-Player' (1886, Frederick Wedmore (1844-1921)). 5
'Ridley' (1887, Whistler). 6
'The Guitar Player' (1910, Edward Guthrie Kennedy (1849-1932)). 7
Whistler apparently wanted to identify the sitter, so 'The Guitar Player (M. W. Ridley)' is based on his original title.
1: Written on 
.
2: Whistler to W. C. Alexander, [March/April 1875], GUW #07573.
3: 10 October 1877, GUW #12734.
4: [19/20 October 1877], GUW #12736.
5: Wedmore 1886 A (cat. no. 122).
6: To W. C. Angus, 9 May 1887, GUW #13098.
7: Kennedy 1910 (cat. no. 140).
DESCRIPTION
A nearly full-length portrait of a man with dark hair, a full beard and moustache. He wears a short jacket and stands facing nearly front, but turned a little to the left, playing a guitar. There is shading in the background.
SITTER
Matthew White Ridley (1837-1888). He also appears in The Camp [80] and The Storm [81], and in the 1861 etching, Le Salon d'Edwards, Sunbury, by Alphonse Legros (1837-1911). 8
8: Gatty 1974; Gatty 1981.
H. Fantin-Latour, Portrait du peintre anglais Ridley, oil, 1861.
(97th Exhibition at the French Gallery, catalogue, 1910).
In 1860 Ignace-Henri-Jean-Théodore Fantin-Latour (1836-1904) painted a self-portrait that he gave to Ridley, which is now in the Tate (N04581) and he also painted two portraits of Ridley, one in 1861, reproduced above, 9 and another in 1865.
9: Christie's, New York, 6 May 1999 (lot 108).