UNIVERSITY of GLASGOW

cancelled plate, model, portrait, woman standing.

There are several minor variations in the title, some giving the model's name or her name and pose, but mostly changes in punctuation, as follows:


'Fumette' (1870s, Whistler). 1
'Fumette' (1874, Pall Mall Gallery).. 2
'Female Figure' (1874, Ralph Thomas, Jr (1840-1876)). 3
'Study of a Female Figure' (1874, James Anderson Rose (1819-1890)). 4
'Fumette' (1881, Union League Club). 5
'Fumette Standing' (1886, Frederick Wedmore (1844-1921)). 6
'Fumette, Standing' (1909, Howard Mansfield (1849-1938)). 7
'Fumette - Standing' (1903/1935, possibly Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958)). 8


Mansfield's title, 'Fumette, Standing', has been chosen, in order to distinguish this portrait from the earlier etching, Fumette [12].

A young woman stands turning to the right, looking at the viewer. Her dark hair is pinned back either side of her forehead and falls loosely down her back. She has a short, close fitting bodice with a small collar close round her neck, and a narrow waist. Her long skirt is covered with an apron. Her right arm, in a puffed sleeve, is by her side, with her hand thrust into a pocket on her apron.

Eloise ('Fumette') (fl. 1840-1858). She posed for Fumette [12] (reproduced above), Fumette's Bent Head [58] and Venus [60]. The apron she wears in Fumette, Standing suggests she is a worker.

The lines have tremendous strength and vigour, and contrast with the fine detail of Whistler's early portrait, Fumette [12], and the rougher, loosely drawn close-up, Fumette's Bent Head [58]. It is one of two striking full-length portraits of Parisian women, with Finette [61]. Lochnan mentions that Whistler gave these figures 'monumentality by selecting a low vantage point and emphasizing the richness of their costume'. 9 The costume worn by Fumette, with its puffed sleeves, close-fitting bodice, narrow waist and full skirt (with no crinoline) is not unusual for the period. A similar costume is seen in a slightly later drawing ('Woman wearing a dress with puffed sleeves') 10 and paintings including A White Note [y044].