UNIVERSITY of GLASGOW

baby, children, door, house.

Three different titles are recorded, as follows:


'Babies Amboise' (1888, Whistler). 1
'Children Amboise' (1890/1891, Whistler). 2
'Doorway, Touraine' (1902, Edward Guthrie Kennedy (1849-1932)). 3
'Children, Amboise' (1903/1935, possibly Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958)). 4
'Doorway, Touraine' (1909, Howard Mansfield (1849-1938)). 5


'Children, Amboise' is the preferred title, and is based on Whistler's title, confirmed by his sister-in-law, Miss Birnie Philip. The title used by Mansfield and other later cataloguers is less precise although it is true that Amboise is in Touraine; their title could, however, lead to confusion between this and other doorways.

Two children, one holding a baby, are sitting on the pavement in front of an open doorway at far right. At left is a window, the right half of which is open, and a curtain with frilled edge is seen behind the panes at left. The window has louvred shutters open at each side.

Amboise is a commune east of Tours in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France, where an 11th century chateau guarded a vital bridge over the Loire. By 1873, having changed hands many times, it was in some disrepair and a major effort to repair it was made by Louis-Philippe’s heirs.

A similar composition is seen in Petticoat Lane 299. Without the title, it would be impossible to identify the nationality of the children or the site.