System Number: 00712
Date: [4 April 1896][1]
Author: JW
Place: London
Recipient: John James Cowan[2]
Place: [Edinburgh]
Repository: Glasgow University Library
Call Number: MS Whistler C213
Document Type: ALS
'4 April 19261896.'
[Savoy coat of arms:] SAVOY HOTEL
SAVOY HOTEL,
VICTORIA EMBANKMENT,
LONDON.
My dear Mr. Cowan -
I have meant to write to you for days - indeed long ago I felt that you ought to hear from me - But the trouble in which we have been living has eaten up all else!
From the time you saw me in London some fifteen months ago, my wife's illness[3] has made of my life one long anxiety and terror -
You have been such a friend that I may tell you, what it has been my occupation [p. 2] to hide from all others, that for the last two years or more, my one thought has been her care - And so we have wandered from home and work - going from town to country, and from doctor to doctor - Living in hotels, and leaving behind us the beautiful place you know so well in Paris - and the studio in which we both passed so many hours - !!
In this pilgrimage for health all other plans have fallen to the ground - all sense of what time and ambition was lost - we were ill - and the sun had gone out of our sky! -
At last however there is hope - great [p. 3] hope - amounting to certainty and happiness - and the weariness of the past - and the months gone by will count as nothing! - and all will be well -
When you come back from Germany come to me in London - for here we must stay - as our great medicine man[4] does not live in Paris - Though mind you he is no English surgeon but a Scotch Physician who has sat at the feet of the most wonderful man in America!
You must all know him - and there will [be] no illness possible among you!
I will send for the picture[5] at once -
With the[6] very kindest messages
Always very sincerely
J McN Whistler.
This document is protected by copyright.
Notes:
1. John James Cowan
John James Cowan (1846-1936), paper manufacturer and collector [more].
2. [4 April 1896]
The date was inserted at the top of the sheet in Cowan's hand.
3. my wife's illness
Beatrix Whistler (1857-1896), née Beatrice Philip, artist [more], who was terminally ill with cancer.
4. medicine man
Dr Samuel Kennedy (b. ca 1848), surgeon.
5. picture
Arrangement in Grey and Green: Portrait of J. J. Cowan (YMSM 402).
6. With the ... Whistler
Written at right-angles to the main text, in the left-hand margin.