A Lady wearing a hat with a feather |  Freer Gallery of Art (1898.406) | |
| Number: | 118 | |
| Date: | 1873/1874 | |
| Medium: | drypoint | |
| Size: | 227 x 150 mm | |
| Signed: | no | |
| Inscribed: | no | |
| Set/Publication: | no | |
| No. of States: | 1 | |
| Known impressions: | 1 | |
| Catalogues: | K.130; M.129 | |
| Impressions taken from this plate (1) | ||
KEYWORD
clothing, dress, fashion, full-length, hat, model, portrait, woman standing.
TITLE
Whistler's original title is not known. Variations on the title include the following:
'Full Length Figure of a Lady, facing to the right in hat with feather' (1898, Wunderlich's). 2
'Full-length figure of a lady in hat with feather' (1902, Edward Guthrie Kennedy (1849-1932)). 3
'Lady Standing' (1909, Howard Mansfield (1849-1938)). 4
'A Lady Wearing a Hat with a Feather' (1910, Edward Guthrie Kennedy (1849-1932)). 5
The preferred title is 'A Lady wearing a hat with a feather', which is simple and descriptive.
'Full Length Figure of a Lady, facing to the right in hat with feather' (1898, Wunderlich's). 2
'Full-length figure of a lady in hat with feather' (1902, Edward Guthrie Kennedy (1849-1932)). 3
'Lady Standing' (1909, Howard Mansfield (1849-1938)). 4
'A Lady Wearing a Hat with a Feather' (1910, Edward Guthrie Kennedy (1849-1932)). 5
The preferred title is 'A Lady wearing a hat with a feather', which is simple and descriptive.
2: New York 1898 (cat. no. 295).
3: Kennedy 1902[more] (cat. no. 364).
4: Mansfield 1909[more] (cat. no. 129).
5: Kennedy 1910[more] (cat. no. 130).
DESCRIPTION
A young woman stands facing three-quarters right, her right arm hanging by her side, and her left arm resting upon a desk or chair to right. She wears a dark hat with a medium-sized brim, decorated with a white feather. Her dress has a long, fitted bodice and overskirt that is looped up at the back into a big 'bustle' or bow. The sleeves are fitted, and cut slightly low on the shoulder. There is a lace ruffle round the high neck. The background to left of her body and to right of her head is shaded with vertical lines.
SITTER
Maud Franklin, 1880s, detail of photograph,
Library of Congress.
Probably Maud Franklin (1857- ca 1941). She started posing for Whistler for the final sittings for Symphony in Flesh Colour and Pink: Portrait of Mrs Frances Leyland y106. A later etching with a profile portrait of Maud Franklin in a less substantial hat and a dress with more frills is seen in Maud, Standing 169, which is reproduced below.
