UNIVERSITY of GLASGOW

System Number: 05962
Date: 3 January 1878
Author: Benjamin Verity & Sons^[1]
Place: London
Recipient: JW
Place: London
Repository: Glasgow University Library
Call Number: MS Whistler V51
Document Type: ALS

B. VERITY & SONS
DESIGNERS, AND MANUFACTURERS OF LAMPS, CANDELABRA, &C

31 & 32, KING ST, COVENT GARDEN,
W. C.
LONDON,

Jan 3rd 1878

J. A. Whistler Esq.
96 Cheyne Walk
Chelsea S. W

Dear Sir

re F. R. Leyland^[2]
Princes Gate

We have applied for the balance of our a/c viz £279 16/10. for works done^[3] at the above house, and Mr Leyland refuses to pay us on the plea [p. 2] that he did not give us the orders for the work to be done, & that (to use his own words) we must sue you for the amount.

Now the majority of the work for which we claim payment for, are for alterations &c, carried out to your instructions while you were decorating the house, and we have always taken your orders, the same as we have done Mr Jeckylls^[4], as Mr Leylands [p. 3] representative.

We shall therefore be glad to have your opinion in the matter before taking any further steps

& are Dear Sir
Yours faithfully

B. Verity & Sons

pp [N?]

This document is protected by copyright.

Notes:

1.  Benjamin Verity & Sons
Benjamin Verity & Sons was a well-established firm of gas-fitters and manufacturers. See also JW's reply to this letter, #05963, #05964, #05965.

2.  F. R. Leyland
Frederick Richards Leyland (1832-1892), ship-owner and art collector [more].

3.  works done
A reference to JW's work on Leyland's London house at 49 Prince's Gate. It included the dining room which was also intended to house La Princesse du pays de la porcelaine (YMSM 50) and The Three Girls (YMSM 88). In the circumstances, Leyland allowed JW to make some modest alterations to the leather wall-hangings, the backdrop for Leyland's collection of blue and white porcelain. Eventually, JW's alterations overtook the original design and the room was reborn with the decorative scheme Harmony in Blue and Gold: The Peacock Room (YMSM 178). It was completed in the spring of 1877. However, JW quarreled with Leyland (who had been absent from London for much of the time) over the cost of the scheme. That JW had exceeded his original brief intensified Leyland's annoyance. According to Merrill, Linda, The Peacock Room. A Cultural Biography, New Haven and London, 1998, p. 377, n. 170, this included proposals from JW to change the lighting.

4.  Mr Jeckylls
Thomas Jeckyll (1827-1881), architectural designer [more]. The dining room was remodelled by Jeckyll before JW set to work on it.