UNIVERSITY of GLASGOW

The Corresponence of James McNeil Whistler
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System Number: 13669
Date: 5 June 1893
Author: William Eden[1]
Place: Aix-Les-Bains
Recipient: David Croal Thomson[2]
Place: [London]
Repository: Published
Document Type: PL[3]


Aix-Les-Bains,

June 5, 1893.

Mr. Thompson,

Thank you for your letter about Mr. Whistler's charges for a portrait of Lady Eden[4].

I fully recognise and appreciate Mr. Whistler's merits, but I hoped his charge for a head only would have been much less than £550. I cannot therefore at that price think of it, especially in [the] face of my already large expenditure in that line with Mr. Swan[5]. If you would kindly send me Mr. Whistler's address in Paris I would[6] try and call on him on my way through.

Yours truly,

William Eden.

P. S. Please write to Hotel des Trois Couronnes.


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Notes:

1.  William Eden
Sir William Eden (1849-1915), painter and collector [more].

2.  David Croal Thomson
David Croal Thomson (1855-1930), art dealer [more].

3.  PL
Published in Whistler, James McNeill, Eden v. Whistler, [n.p.], 1897, p. 4. Copied versions of this letter appear in GUL MS Whistler B74 and E22; in both cases the text has been translated into French.

4.  Lady Eden
Lady Sybil Frances Eden (1867-1945), née Grey [more]. Brown and Gold: Portrait of Lady Eden (YMSM 408) became the subject of a legal dispute between Eden and JW over the price and manner of payment.

5.  Mr. Swan
John Macallan Swan (1847-1908), animal painter and sculptor [more]. The portrait bought by Eden was J. M. Swan, Portrait of the daughter of Sir William Eden (z287).

6.  I would ... through.
In the published version of the letter, this line was in italics.