Documents associated with: Kennedy, David A.
Record 2 of 33
System Number: 07198
Date: 25 July 1892
Author: Edward Guthrie Kennedy[1]
Place: New York
Recipient: JW
Place: [Paris]
Repository: Glasgow University Library
Call Number: MS Whistler W1186
Document Type: ALS
[scroll:] H. WUNDERLICH & CO.
H W & CO.
RARE PRINTS
868 B'WAY N- Y-
July 25 / 92.
Dear Mr. Whistler,
I arrived here, from Fastnet to Sandy Hook, in 5 days 17 hours. One day we ran 503, another 503 another 508 Knots, not miles. The "Majestic[2]" nearly beat the best time ever made & would have done so but for fog one night.. I have sent all your catalogues to their owners, including H. Pennington[3], who is at 16 Everett Place Newport. I should also have added, that the voyage was like going up the Hudson all the way, and no fog, except one night. Better come over next year.
Have you gone to the Sea Side yet? I hope you have, and are enjoying the cool breezes. Lord, but it is hot here! I sit now at my desk at 8.30 a.m. and perspire. I have the thinnest kind [p. 2] of clothing on too, but we are having a "hot wave" and the thermometer is in the 90's. Whew!
It was delightful two days after I landed but now! —— .
I hope soon to see a proof of "The man in the Garden[4]", the Sale of which I should have here, including Freer[5] and Mansfield[6]. Of course, such impressions as you give me for my own use, will not be sold to anyone. Dunthorne[7] would like one, so one may be sent to him with bill when it is ready.
My brother[8] is in England now, but will not be heard of in Paris. He sails for America about the 12th August. I hope you have your studio arranged to your satisfaction and that your house in the rue de Bac[9] [sic] is being put in order. When do you paint the Duke and Duchess[10] of Marlboro'?
I hope that you have the pictures[11] from London by this time and are pleased with them.
With best regards to yourself & Mrs. Whistler[12], I am,
Yours Sincerely,
E. G. Kennedy.
Yes, Brown[13] lies in Bond St.
This document is protected by copyright.
Notes:
1. Edward Guthrie Kennedy
Edward Guthrie Kennedy (1849-1932), dealer with H. Wunderlich and Co., New York [more].
2. Majestic
S. S. Majestic, on which Kennedy had returned to New York.
3. H. Pennington
Robert Goodloe Harper Pennington (1854-1920), artist [more].
4. man in the garden
JW had apparently etched a portrait of Kennedy in the garden at 110 rue du Bac. He must have destroyed it, but painted Kennedy in oils instead (see Portrait of E. G. Kennedy (1) (YMSM 403), Portrait of E. G. Kennedy (2) (YMSM 404)).
5. Freer
Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919), industrialist, collector and founder of the Freer Gallery of Art [more].
6. Mansfield
Howard Mansfield (1849-1938), New York lawyer, print collector [more].
7. Dunthorne
Robert Dunthorne (b. ca 1851), of the Rembrandt Gallery, print dealer and publisher [more].
8. brother
David A. Kennedy, New York dealer, brother of E. G. Kennedy [more].
9. rue de Bac
JW had recently moved into 110 rue du Bac. The studio was at 86 rue Notre Dame des Champs.
10. Duke and Duchess
George Charles Spencer-Churchill (1844-1892), 8th Duke of Marlborough [more], and Lillian Warren Spencer-Churchill (d. 1909), née Price, Duchess of Marlborough [more]. JW did not paint their portraits as the Duke died on 9 November 1892 (see D. C. Thomson to JW, #05758, letter dated 17 November 1892).
11. pictures
The Scarf (YMSM 59), Battersea Reach (YMSM 45), Variations in Flesh Colour and Green: The Balcony (YMSM 56), and Harmony in Blue and Silver: Trouville (YMSM 64).
12. Mrs. Whistler
Beatrix Whistler (1857-1896), née Beatrice Philip, artist [more].
13. Yes, Brown
Ernest George Brown (1853 or 1854-1915), assistant manager at the Fine Art Society [more]. This line is added at the top of p. 1.