UNIVERSITY of GLASGOW

clothing, dress, fashion, full-length, portrait, woman standing.

Variations on the title are few:


'The Velvet dress' (1870s, Whistler). 2
'Mrs. Leyland' (1870s, Whistler). 3
'Portrait of a Lady' (1874, James Anderson Rose (1819-1890)). 4
'Portrait' (1874, Whistler). 5
'The Velvet Dress' (1886, Frederick Wedmore (1844-1921)). 6
'Velvet Dress' (1887, Whistler). 7
'The Velvet Dress (Mrs Leyland)' (2010, Whistler Etching Project).


'The Velvet Dress (Mrs Leyland)' combines elements of Whistler's various titles.

A full-length figure of a lady who stands looking to the left, seen slightly from the back, with her left arm by her side. Her dress has a fitted bodice and a high neck with a ruff, a narrow fitted waist and a broad skirt falling in heavy folds. There is shading, suggesting a curtain, in the background.

Frances Leyland (1834-1910). It is said that Mrs Leyland wanted to be painted in a black velvet dress as seen in the portraits of Helen Rose Huth (1837-1924), Arrangement in Black, No. 2: Portrait of Mrs Louis Huth y125. According to the Pennells,

'[Mrs Leyland] was a beautiful woman, with wonderful red hair. Whistler made a dry-point of her, The Velvet Gown, and in black velvet she wanted him to paint her. But he preferred a dress in harmony with the hair.' 8

For the oil, Symphony in Flesh Colour and Pink: Portrait of Mrs Frances Leyland y106, she posed in a much more complex dress, designed by Whistler. Several related chalk drawings, including Mrs Leyland, standing, holding a book m0437, show the development of that costume. 9

This is one of several images where the subject is dress and fashion (i.e. The Little Velvet Dress 119, The Silk Dress 151, The Muff 131, The Fur Tippet: Miss Lenoir 365 and The Little Hat 366). Clearly it is also a portrait, and, in its elegant simplicity, as much an icon of the Aesthetic Movement as Whistler's oil portrait of the same sitter, Symphony in Flesh Colour and Pink: Portrait of Mrs Frances Leyland y106.