The Note in Orange and Blue (Sweet Shop)
painter
James McNeill Whistler
(American, 1834 - 1903)
Date1884
Place MadeCornwall, England, Europe
MediumOil on panel
Dimensions12 x 18 cm (4 3/4 x 7 1/16 in.)
ClassificationsPaintings
Credit LineIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Accession numberP25e6
eMuseum ID720787
EmbARK ObjectID10901
TMS Source ID167
Last Updated10/31/24
Status
Not on viewWeb CommentaryThis small painting is one of several works of shop fronts that James McNeil Whistler painted in St. Ives, a seaside town in Cornwall, England. It was one of Isabella Stewart Gardner’s first purchases from the artist. She hung it, along with three other Whistler works, next to one another in the Veronese Room.
BibliographyNotesCatalogue. Fenway Court. (Boston, 1903), p. 18. (entitled "The Chelsea Sweet-Shop")
Mortimer Menpes. "Whistler the Purist." Cornhill Magazine, vol. 15 (December 1903), p. 762. (on "The Blue Band")
T.R. Way et al. The Art of James McNeill Whistler: An Appreciation (London, 1903), p. 64. (entitled "The Little Sweet-Stuff Shop")
Mortimer Menpes. Whistler as I Knew Him (London, 1904), pp. 118-19, 140. (on "The Blue Band")
Morris Carter. Isabella Stewart Gardner and Fenway Court (Boston, 1925; Reprint, Boston, 1972), p. 103. (entitled "The Note in Orange and Blue - Sweet Shop")
Philip Hendy. Catalogue of Exhibited Paintings and Drawings (Boston, 1931), p. 418. (entitled "The Sweet Shop, Chelsea")
Gilbert Wendel Longstreet and Morris Carter. General Catalogue (Boston, 1935), p. 201. (entitled "The Sweet Shop, Chelsea")
“Notes, Records, Comments.” Gardner Museum Calendar of Events 6, no. 19 (6 Jan. 1963), p. 1. (excerpting Morris Carter, pp. 103-05)
Philip Hendy. European and American Paintings in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1974), pp. 291-92, ill. (entitled "The Sweet Shop, Chelsea")
Andrew McLaren Young et al. The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler (New Haven, 1980), p. 142, no. 263, pl. 161. (as possibly January/March 1884; entitled "Orange and Blue: Sweet Shop"; no. 262 "The Blue Band" may refer to this painting)
"YMSM 263: Blue and Orange: Sweet Shop," The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler: A Catalogue Raisonne, https://whistlerpaintings.gla.ac.uk/catalogue/searchdisplay/?mid=y263; last updated 21 November 2020
Kathleen King, "Float Like a Butterfly, Sting Like a Bee: James McNeill Whistler," Inside the Collection (blog), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 9 July 2024, https://www.gardnermuseum.org/blog/james-mcneill-whistler-walking-stick
Mortimer Menpes. "Whistler the Purist." Cornhill Magazine, vol. 15 (December 1903), p. 762. (on "The Blue Band")
T.R. Way et al. The Art of James McNeill Whistler: An Appreciation (London, 1903), p. 64. (entitled "The Little Sweet-Stuff Shop")
Mortimer Menpes. Whistler as I Knew Him (London, 1904), pp. 118-19, 140. (on "The Blue Band")
Morris Carter. Isabella Stewart Gardner and Fenway Court (Boston, 1925; Reprint, Boston, 1972), p. 103. (entitled "The Note in Orange and Blue - Sweet Shop")
Philip Hendy. Catalogue of Exhibited Paintings and Drawings (Boston, 1931), p. 418. (entitled "The Sweet Shop, Chelsea")
Gilbert Wendel Longstreet and Morris Carter. General Catalogue (Boston, 1935), p. 201. (entitled "The Sweet Shop, Chelsea")
“Notes, Records, Comments.” Gardner Museum Calendar of Events 6, no. 19 (6 Jan. 1963), p. 1. (excerpting Morris Carter, pp. 103-05)
Philip Hendy. European and American Paintings in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1974), pp. 291-92, ill. (entitled "The Sweet Shop, Chelsea")
Andrew McLaren Young et al. The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler (New Haven, 1980), p. 142, no. 263, pl. 161. (as possibly January/March 1884; entitled "Orange and Blue: Sweet Shop"; no. 262 "The Blue Band" may refer to this painting)
"YMSM 263: Blue and Orange: Sweet Shop," The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler: A Catalogue Raisonne, https://whistlerpaintings.gla.ac.uk/catalogue/searchdisplay/?mid=y263; last updated 21 November 2020
Kathleen King, "Float Like a Butterfly, Sting Like a Bee: James McNeill Whistler," Inside the Collection (blog), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 9 July 2024, https://www.gardnermuseum.org/blog/james-mcneill-whistler-walking-stick
ProvenanceNotesPainted in St Ives, Cornwall, January-March 1884.
Offered for sale at Whistler's exhibition "Notes" - "Harmonies" - "Nocturnes" at Dowdeswell Gallery, London for £50 (but priced at £100 by Whistler), 1886, no. 49. (entitled "Blue and Orange: Sweet Shop")
Purchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner from James McNeill Whistler, London for 100 guineas on 30-31 October 1886. (entitled "The Note in Orange and Blue (Sweet Shop)")
Offered for sale at Whistler's exhibition "Notes" - "Harmonies" - "Nocturnes" at Dowdeswell Gallery, London for £50 (but priced at £100 by Whistler), 1886, no. 49. (entitled "Blue and Orange: Sweet Shop")
Purchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner from James McNeill Whistler, London for 100 guineas on 30-31 October 1886. (entitled "The Note in Orange and Blue (Sweet Shop)")
Object/Provenance
