System Number: 07982
Date: 27 January [1898][1]
Author: JW
Place: Paris
Recipient: Bernardine Hall[2]
Place: Paris
Repository: Library of Congress
Call Number: Manuscript Division, Pennell-Whistler Collection, PWC 1/41/3
Document Type: ALS[3]
110. Rue du Bac - Paris
Thursday night -
27. Jan -
Dear Miss Hall -
I got your address the other day from Miss Kinsella[4] - or should have written to you before now. -
However there is no haste I hope about anything - at least I am sure that is the only way in which any [thing] nice is done! -
All this while I have [p. 2] been more or less in the law Courts - and, I trust, you will be pleased to know that I won my case[5] most triumphantly -
I am delighted to find that you are passing the winter in Paris - How much better than that black and depressing London! -
Do you think you would like to come to the studio some afternoon next week?
We might get things into working order -
Perhaps you will write me a line and say whether you think Wednesday next week at half past one o'clock will do? - Or will you come at 12 o'clock and have the déjeuner in the Atelier?
It would perhaps be better - for then we could more readily get to the work - and I should be delighted if this arrangement were to suit you? -
Have you heard of the two Miss Kinsellas[6]? -
I hope indeed that you are now quite well and strong again.
Believe me, dear Miss Hall, with kindest regards,
Very Sincerely Yours
J McNeill Whistler
This document is protected by copyright.
Envelope:
'Whistler'
àMademoiselle Bernadine Hall -
5 - Rue Eugène Delacroix.
Paris -
[stamp:] POSTE / 15 / REPUBLIQUE FRANÇAISE
[postmark:] [PARIS] DEPART / N 28 / JANV / 98
Notes:
1. 27 January [1898]
Year dated from the postmark, and confirmed by the almanac.
2. Bernardine Hall
Bernardine D. B. Hall, of Burton Park, south of Petworth [more]. A portrait seems to have been proposed either of her, or more likely, of Miss Margaret Hall, a patron of JW [more] (see #07984). However it is not clear if it was completed, or even started.
3. ALS
Deep mourning border.
4. Miss Kinsella
Louise Kinsella (d. 1923), patron of JW [more]. JW wrote to her on the same day, #11057.
5. case
The trial of Eden v. Whistler. In 1894, JW quarrelled with Sir William Eden (1849-1915), painter and collector [more] over the completion of Brown and Gold: Portrait of Lady Eden (YMSM 408). Eden instituted legal proceedings against him and the case dragged on for several years. In December 1897, JW, on appeal, was permitted by the Cour de Cassation in Paris to keep the picture provided that he did not make use of it. See his account of the affair: Whistler, James McNeill, Eden versus Whistler: The Baronet and the Butterfly. A Valentine with a Verdict, Paris and New York, 1899 [GM, A.24].
6. Miss Kinsellas
He may be referring to Katherine ('Kate') Kinsella, artist (fl. 1898-1935), later the Marquess Presbitero [more], or to Rose et vert: L'Iris - Portrait of Miss Kinsella (YMSM 420).