System Number: 00700
Date: 18 January 1893
Author: John James Cowan[1]
Place: Murrayfield, Edinburgh
Recipient: JW
Place: [Paris]
Repository: Glasgow University Library
Call Number: MS Whistler C201
Document Type: ALS
18th Janry 1893
WESTER LEA
MURRAYFIELD
N. B.
Dear Sir,
I have been very long of [sic] writing to you since you expressed to Mr Lavery[2] your willingness to paint my portrait[3]. Various matters have prevented my doing so, and even now my movements are uncertain.
At present I can assure you that I am most anxious to avail myself of the opportunity of securing a picture by you, and I [p. 2] shall think it well worth my while to come to Paris for the purpose. When I do so my time shall be your's, [sic] but I cannot fix a time at present.
I have some thoughts of spending a month or six weeks with my wife & some of my children on the coast of Normandy about August, but might do so within reach of Paris if [p. 3] you are there throughout the summer? If not I will arrange to come at some other time, say in May or June?
I am inclined to go in for a head only, or half length at most.
Perhaps you will kindly let me know what date would best suit you
Your's faithfully
J. J. Cowan
J. McNeill Whistler Esq.
P. T. O
[p. 4] I shall be glad to know at same time your prices for a head & half length.
J. J. C.
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Notes:
1. John James Cowan
John James Cowan (1846-1936), paper manufacturer and collector [more]. His letter is written on narrow-bordered mourning paper.
2. Mr Lavery
John Lavery (1856-1941), painter [more].
3. portrait
JW suggested that the sittings should start in mid May at a price of 600 guineas for a half-length portrait or 400 guineas for a head (JW to J. J. Cowan, #00701). In the event he painted a medium sized full length, Arrangement in Grey and Green: Portrait of J. J. Cowan (YMSM 402). Cowan sat for it in May and June 1893 and annually thereafter till 1900, and though he gave JW more than sixty sittings the portrait was never finished, but was sent to Cowan after JW's death by Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958), JW's sister-in-law [more] (see Cowan, John J., From 1846-1932, Edinburgh, 1933, pp. 168-173).