System Number: 07296
Date: 4 June 1898
Author: Edward Guthrie Kennedy[1]
Place: Paris
Recipient: JW
Place: [Paris]
Repository: Glasgow University Library
Call Number: MS Whistler W1284
Document Type: ALS
[engraving of hotel]
GRAND HÔTEL TERMINUS
GARE ST LAZARE
PARIS
PARIS,
LE 4 Juin 1898
My dear friend,
When I got home last night, the vision of O'K. with a benevolent smile showering bland waves of the hand from a carriage on curtseying rustics was too much for me, and I fairly guffawed. I felt as if some one was tickling me all over the ribs, the idea of being a country patriarch was so droll.
And to be like Haden[2]! Well, well, this is hard!! What have I done, that makes you think I should ever come to that? [p. 2] I am innocent of any intention to give offence, or having given any, but rather than become like that venerable humbug, I would jump off the dock, in New York parlance.
You are mistaken. My ambition is not the Country Squire "his belly with fat capon lined[3]," but to be the owner of fine Whistler's. Alas, that a beer pocket should accompany Champagne taste!
I take the liberty of enclosing a cheque for £450 /- /- for the "Sparrow"[4]. I had intended to give only 400 /- /-, for say what you will, size plays [p. 3] a part in the price of paintings. This is a compromise between your 500 and my 400 /- /-. If, under the Circumstances (20 per cent duty if it goes to America) you can accept this, I shall be delighted. If not, I shall heave a sigh & swallow my disappointment. How much for the little shop at Hull[5]? When you come to London, I have two Commissions, maybe three, for you. Money talks, no Pollitts[6] nor Max's[7]. And look at the last move in America! We [p. 4] may have silver on us before we know it.
Don't forget to send me the order on Max for the sketch, and the Card to Sargent[8].
By the way, who is the head of the Butterfly Co.[9] in London? What does the Co. do? I shall be here until Monday morning and then shall return by the end of the week.
Should you feel compelled to refuse the check, please return it to me here, and excuse me for sending it.
Don't de return it however.
Always Sincerely Yours
O'K.
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. Haden
Francis Seymour Haden (1818-1910), surgeon and etcher, JW's brother-in-law [more], who had fallen out with JW over thirty years earlier.
3. lined
'And then the justice, / In fair round belly with good capon lined,' from the passage starting 'All the world's a stage, / And all the men and women on it merely players'. From William Shakespeare's As You Like It, Act 2, Scene 7.
4. Sparrow
The Little London Sparrow (YMSM 477).
5. little shop at Hull
Little shop at Hull (excat 23), not identified.
6. Pollitts
Herbert Charles Pollitt (1871/1872-1942), patron [more], who sat for the unfinished portrait (Portrait of H. C. Pollitt (YMSM 452)) in 1896-97.
7. Max's
Probably Max Williams (d. 1928), New York dealer [more]; several years earlier, 1893/1895, he had owned Copy of 'Nocturne: Black and Gold - The Fire Wheel' (M.1359), which was eventually re-acquired by JW.
8. Sargent
John Singer Sargent (1856-1925), artist [more].
9. Butterfly Co.
The Company of the Butterfly, a company founded by JW in April 1897 in order to sell his works direct to the public. He acquired the lease of a shop at 2 Hinde Street, Manchester Square, as premises and employed Mrs Christine Anderson as manager. However, it was not a success and lasted only from 1898 to 1901.