System Number: 08966
Date: 6 November 1878
Author: JW
Place: London
Recipient: James Anderson Rose[1]
Place: London
Repository: Library of Congress
Call Number: Manuscript Division, Pennell-Whistler Collection, PWC
Document Type: MsD
[cover sheet:] '77[2]'
Whistler
v
Ruskin[3]
(Dft) [Defendant] Copy
Answers to Interrogatatories.Mr Petheram[4] to
into Answers to Interrogatories
J. Anderson Rose.
11 Salisbury Street
Strand
(p. 1) In the High Court of Justice
Queens Bench Division
1877. W. No. 818
Between James Abbott McNeill Whistler
Plaintiff
- and -
John Ruskin . . . . . Defendant
I James Abbott McNeil [sic] Whistler of Tite Street Chelsea in the Co[unt]y of Midd[les]ex Artist the above named Def Plt [Plaintiff] in answer to all Interrogatories to be appointed by the Plaintiff by Affidavit in writing pursuant to the Order - [dated?] by the Deft Plt pursuant to order of the [five or six illegible words] dated the 6th day of Novr 1878 make oath & say as follows
1 Were the following pictures painted by you or any and which of them exhibited by you or by some other person or persons at the Summer Exhibition at the Grosvenor Gallery[5] in the year 1877.
1. Nocturne in black and gold
2. Nocturne in blue and silver
3. Nocturne in blue and gold
4. Nocturne in blue and silver
5. Arrangement in black No. 3. Irving as Philip II of Spain
6. Harmony in amber and black
7. Arrangement in brown
'I say that[6] all the sd pictures were painted by me & exhibited by me at the sd exhibition'
If exhibited by any other person or persons state the name and address or the names and addresses of such person or persons where else have the said pictures been exhibited and when?
'I further say that Nos 3 & 4 Nocturne in blue & gold and Nocturne in blue & silver were exhibited by me at the Dudley Gallery in 1876 and no. 4 at no. 48 Pall Mall in Piccadilly in 1874[.] None of the pictures have been [illegible word] publicly exhibited by any person as far as I know except on the sd. occasions'
2 Were any other pictures painted by you exhibited (p. 2) at the said Exhibition. If so give the names or descriptions of the same - Where else have the same or any of them been exhibited and when
'2. At the sd exhibition I also exhibited a one other picture painted by him me such picture is a portrait of Thomas Carlyle[.] The sd picture was also exhibited by me some 3 or 4 years ago at art exhibition at 48 Pall Mall.'
3 State with regard to each of the pictures by you exhibited as aforesaid whether the same was then for Sale and if so what price was asked by you.
'3 3 Of the pictures No. 1 only was then for sale & the price asked by me was 200 gns -'
4 Have any and which of the said pictures so exhibited been sold and when and to whom and for what price.
'4. No. 2 was sold by me to Mr Graham in 187[blank] for 150 gns
3 was sold to Hon P. Windham [sic] in 187[blank] for 200 gns.'
5 State with regard to each of the pictures exhibited by you or by such other person or persons as aforesaid at the said Summer Exhibition at the said Gallery in the year 1877 in whose possession[7] and at what place the same to the best of your knowledge and belief now is - Also where each was when you had heard of it.
'5. At The last time when I was aware where they were Nos 1 & 7 were in the poss[essi]on of Mrs Noseda No. x Strand[,] No. 2 in the posson of Mr Graham Grosvenor Place W.[,] [No.] 3 in the posson of the Hon Percy Windham 44 Belgrade Sq. W.[,] No. 4 in the posson Mrs Leyland 44 Princes Gate Hyde Park and to the best of my belief they are still in their posson. No. 5 is in my own posson and No. 6 is in my posson but has been painted over by me since the exhibition -'
This document is protected by copyright.
Notes:
1. James Anderson Rose
James Anderson Rose (1819-1890), solicitor [more].
2. 77
Written in another hand in a circle. Legal documents were numbered according to the case by Rose. This is one of several drafts (#11950, #12065 and #12066) of a document dated 6 November 1878 (see #13279 for full annotations).
3. Ruskin
The case of Whistler v. Ruskin was heard at the Queen's Bench of the High Court on 25-26 November 1878.
4. Petheram
William Comer Petheram (1835-1922), barrister [more].
5. Grosvenor Gallery
JW exhibited seven oils at the 1st Summer Exhibition, Grosvenor Gallery, London, 1877 (cat. nos. 5, 6A, 6, 4, 8, 9 and one ex. cat). These were Nocturne in Blue and Silver (YMSM 113), Nocturne: Blue and Gold - Old Battersea Bridge (YMSM 140) as 'Nocturne in Blue and Silver', Nocturne: Grey and Gold - Westminster Bridge (YMSM 145), Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket (YMSM 170), Arrangement in Black and Brown: The Fur Jacket (YMSM 181) as 'Harmony in Amber and Black', Arrangement in Brown (YMSM 182) and Arrangement in Black, No. 3: Sir Henry Irving as Philip II of Spain (YMSM 187). Arrangement in Grey and Black, No. 2: Portrait of Thomas Carlyle (YMSM 137), was exhibited in the entrance gallery (ex. cat.).
6. 'I say that
Despite the opening statement 'I James Abbott McNeill Whistler' neither statement nor answers were written in JW's hand. The paragraphs indicated within quotation marks here, after each Interrogatory, were all written in another hand in the left margin. They may, however, have been dictated by JW.
7. possession
The owners were William Graham (1817-1885), MP and collector [more], Frances Leyland (1836-1910), née Dawson [more], Percy Wyndham (1835-1911), collector [more], and Mrs Jane Noseda (b. 1813 or 1814), print dealer [more].