Chez George Sauer a Lion Rouge
Classification
Drawing
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
Accession Number
F1898.175
Tags
American ArtCharles Lang Freer collectionUnited Statesmanportrait
About this artwork
Whistler's inscriptions on this quickly drawn portrait let us assume that the sitter is George Saure, owner of the Red Lion. Sauer has a proprietary hand on the small change next to his glass. This is probably the type of sketch with which the artist answered the question, "Ou mangez-vous?" for he drew to help pay his expenses during the trip. In his letter to Deborah Haden Whistler mentioned "how the first night I made a portrait in pencil...for a plate of soup."