Documents associated with: Wortley, Archibald J. Stuart-
Record 15 of 31
System Number: 05018
Date: 8 March 1892
Author: Francis Gerard Prange[1]
Place: [London]
Recipient: JW
Place: [Paris?]
Repository: Glasgow University Library
Call Number: MS Whistler P658
Document Type: ALS
8 March 1892
[crest with crown over belt with rose and clover:]
THE REFORM CLUB
'Prange[2]'.
My dear Whistler
I despair of ever seeing you back by the banks of "our river" and I am obliged to what they call take up my pen & talk[3].
Portraits
We have all come to the conclusion that you ought to be invited to become a regular Member of the Society[4]. Archie[5] has put you up & Shannon[6] has seconded you. [p. 2] Pray drop me a line to say that "Barkis is willing"[7]
If you are wanting your work for your Exh.[8] it will be liberated in time for ours - which will open abt the 20th of June - a fortnight earlier this year.
I really want you so badly - so does Archie - quite independantly [sic] of all else - your wisdom & wit are a need to the Committee - upon which you will I hope serve shortly
The show will I [p. 3] hope be an excellent one.
"Do say yes Charming Judy Callaghan[9]"
With best regards to Mrs Whistler[10] believe me to be
cordially yours
F G Prange
This document is protected by copyright.
Notes:
1. Francis Gerard Prange
Francis Gerard Prange (b. ca 1843), London art dealer [more].
2. Prange
Added by another hand in pencil.
3. take up my pen & talk
Echoing John 5.8, 'take up thy bed, and walk.'
4. Society
Society of Portrait Painters.
5. Archie
Archibald James Stuart-Wortley (1849-1905), painter, first President of the Society of Portrait Painters [more].
6. Shannon
Charles Hazlewood Shannon (1863-1937), painter and lithographer [more].
7. "Barkis is willing"
An allusion to Charles Dickens' David Copperfield.
8. Exh.
Nocturnes, Marines and Chevalet Pieces, Boussod, Valadon & Cie, Goupil Gallery, London, 1892.
9. Charming Judy Callaghan
'Charming Judy Callaghan' was the subject of a number of traditional tunes and airs, many published in the late 1820s and 1830s. The heroine 'Judy Callaghan' was an Irish girl who was being courted by a certain 'Barney Brallaghan'; the refrain of one such song goes as follows: "Only say, you'll have Barney Brallaghan,/Don't say nay, charming Judy Callaghan" (from the text of sheet music published in 1830 by Bourne of Broadway, New York). One version of the song is mentioned in chapter three of Men's Wives by William M. Thackeray.
10. Mrs Whistler
Beatrix Whistler (1857-1896), née Beatrice Philip, artist [more].