System Number: 05920
Date: 25 August 1898
Author: George Washington Vanderbilt[1]
Place: London
Recipient: JW
Place: [Paris]
Repository: Glasgow University Library
Call Number: MS Whistler V9
Document Type: ALS
THOMAS' HOTEL,
BERKELEY SQUARE,
W.
My dear Mr Whistler
Now that the time has come for me to take possession of "the masterpiece"[2] I send you the other check. I only hope you will [p. 2] feel so lonely without my other self, that Biltmore House will soon see you within its walls when you will again have [p. 3] to inscribe the Butterfly[3] within its guest book, to its honour & our joy, my wife's[4] and mine.
À bientot and most sincerely and affectionately yours
George Vanderbilt
Aug 25th 1898
[p. 4] P. S. My address in America until I reach Biltmore is care Cornelius Vanderbilt[5] Newport, Rhode Island.
This document is protected by copyright.
Notes:
1. George Washington Vanderbilt
George Washington Vanderbilt (1862-1914), collector [more].
2. the masterpiece
Portrait of George W. Vanderbilt (YMSM 481). Vanderbilt commissioned the work in May 1897 (see G. Vanderbilt to JW, #05914).
3. Butterfly
JW's mongram: he never visited Biltmore, however.
4. my wife's
Edith Stuyvesant Vanderbilt (1873-1958), née Dresser, wife of G. W. Vanderbilt [more]. The Vanderbilts married in June 1898.
5. Cornelius Vanderbilt
Cornelius Vanderbilt, Jr (1843-1899), businessman, railway tycoon and philanthropist [more].