Documents associated with: Clarence, Duke of
Record 3 of 3
System Number: 07219
Date: 9 July 1893
Author: Edward Guthrie Kennedy[1]
Place: London
Recipient: JW
Place: Paris
Repository: Glasgow University Library
Call Number: MS Whistler W1207
Document Type: ALS
E. G. KENNEDY
G. DIETERLEN[2]
[scroll:] H. WUNDERLICH & CO.
H W & CO.
RARE PRINTS
868 B'WAY N- Y-
July 9th 1893
My dear Mr. Whistler,
Well, here we are again! It is very hot in London.
The Royal Wedding[3] passed off well, as the weather was fine, if hot, and the pageant very good on a small scale. The crowd was enormous. The bride seems a big, large boned and somewhat coarse young woman, who looks older than she is. The bride groom looks much younger than his wife who bowed to the public like an automaton, in a jerky fashion. No doubt the occasion was a trying one.
Prancing about in the heat all day is a new sensation for me, so I long for the regularity of my New York existence, where life is made as comfortable as possible in hot weather.
I find that I cannot go to Paris again this year, as I shall have Sales every day next week & Monday week. On Monday I leave [p. 2] for the North however, & sail on Wednesday 19th for the land o' Freedom and $.
Can I take the picture[4] back with me?
I shall keep it at home, occasionally under the influence of rain, if you so decree.
I hope to bring it over next year, and make marks on the garden seats while posing for the uncompleted picture - that is if you care to take it up again. It promises well & might be an interesting work.
As for the Standing one[5], there is not much to do to it, & that can be done some time next year when the weather is not so warm as to threaten the voyageur[6] with rabies when under the roof of 89 rue des petits Champs.
I notice that there is some fighting again in the Latin quarter, so that the riotous Quaker Pennell[7] will have a chance to get shot or stabbed or something yet. Sometime when Peace is concluded, I should be glad of two or three copies of "Ten O'Clock" in French. I had not time to get them when there, but Pennell is near the place where they are sold and he can buy them sometime if he will. I shall return him my best thanks & the money for them.
I am under the roof for a day or two - [p. 3][8] near Heaven in fact - where it is warm, so warm that my costume is near the Texan ideal, viz. a hat and a pair of spurs.
I hope that you are now taking a much needed rest, and that you will not be bothered by any "play Cards on my Coat tail" Americans who require portraits painted in ten minutes. I also trust that Mrs. Whistler[9] has recovered from her indisposition, and that the heat is decreasing.
In truth, in London, the oldest inhabitant is scratching his bald pate in order to try and remember a similar period or season of dry and hot weather. It is unprecedented. Once more I beg to thank you and Mrs. Whistler for your king at-[p. 4]-tentions and hospitality. I hope that I may have an opportunity of showing you some attention when you come to New York en route to Chicago[10]. I shall be glad to hear from you at your convenience and am, dear Mr. Whistler
Yours Sincerely,
E. G. Kennedy.
J. McN. Whistler Esq.
Paris.
Please remember the fine impressions of the Wheelwright Shop[11] you are to send me.
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. G. DIETERLEN
G. Dieterlen, employee at H. Wunderlich and Co., New York.
3. Royal Wedding
The wedding of the Duke and Duchess of York. In 1891 Princess Mary of Teck became engaged to Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence (elder son of the Prince of Wales), but he died a few weeks before the wedding was due to have taken place. Subsequently, she became engaged to the Duke's younger brother, George, Duke of York, and they were married on 6 July 1893.
4. picture
Portrait of E. G. Kennedy (1) (YMSM 403).
5. the Standing one
Portrait of E. G. Kennedy (2) (YMSM 404).
6. voyageur
Fr., traveller.
7. the riotous Quaker Pennell
Joseph Pennell (1860-1926), printer and illustrator, JW's biographer [more].
8. [p. 3]
Printed address header is repeated at the top of p. 3, as on p. 1. 'July 9th 1893' is written in pencil in another hand (possibly that of Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958), JW's sister-in-law [more]) at the top of p. 3.
9. Mrs. Whistler
Beatrix Whistler (1857-1896), née Beatrice Philip, artist [more].
10. Chicago
World's Columbian Exposition, Department of Fine Arts, Chicago, 1893. JW had been invited to lecture but did not in the end go to the States again.