System Number: 10004
Date: [November/December 1888/1890?][1]
Author: JW
Place: [London]
Recipient: Mortimer Luddington Menpes[2]
Place: [Paris]
Repository: University of Texas at Austin, TX
Call Number: Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center
Document Type: ALS
No O! careless Kangaroo! -
The "remarkable" painting[3] you meant to write to me about, was the Piano picture[4] you saw at Hadens[5], where you distinguished yourself! -
[butterfly signature]
Tous mes compliments![6] -
some one in Paris will translate this for you -
This document is protected by copyright.
Notes:
1. [November/December 1888/1890?]
This letter may date from close to the time of JW's quarrel with Menpes in December 1888 (see Whistler, James McNeill, The Gentle Art of Making Enemies, 2nd ed., London and New York, 1892, pp. 230-34). It appears to be a reply to a letter from M. L. Menpes to JW, #04037.
2. Mortimer Luddington Menpes
Mortimer Luddington Menpes (1860-1938), artist [more].
3. painting
In a previous letter, Menpes mentioned that he had recently seen Arrangement in Black, No. 3: Sir Henry Irving as Philip II of Spain (YMSM 187), 'a remarkable picture' (#04037). JW seems to have thought that Menpes was mistaken. However, JW's remark may also have been a gibe at the other news that Menpes had related in his letter: he had withdrawn his resignation from the Royal Society of Painter Etchers, of which F. S. Haden was a leading member.
4. Piano picture
At the Piano (YMSM 24).
5. Hadens
Francis Seymour Haden (1818-1910), surgeon and etcher, JW's brother-in-law [more], kept the picture for a while before it was sold to John ('Spanish') Phillip (1817-1867), artist [more], in July 1860. He reacquired the painting after Phillip's death.
6. Tous mes compliments
Fr., All my compliments!