Portrait of Whistler

About this artwork

Whistler’s good friend Henri Fantin-Latour originally included this portrait as part of a large composition called Le toast: Hommage à la Verit&‌eacute; (The Toast: Homage to Truth) that also depicted such avant-garde figures as the painter Edouard Manet and the poet Charles Baudelaire. The Frenchmen wore conventional black suits in the group portrait. Whistler, however, insisted on distinguishing himself by wearing a colorful Chinese robe. Fantin’s group portrait and Whistler’s paintin...

Art Historical Context

Henri Fantin-Latour's *Portrait of Whistler*1865) captures the bold spirit of James McNeill Whistler, an American artist thriving in Paris's avant-garde circles. Originally a fragment from Fantin-Latour's group composition *Le Toast: Hommage à larité* (The Toast: Homage to Truth), featured fellow innovators like Édouard Manet and poet Baudelaire. Fantinatour, a Frenchist known for intimate portraits of artists and writers, painted his subjects in stark black suits to evoke solemnity—except for Whistler, who demanded a vibrant Chinese robe to stand out. This oil painting fragment tells a tale ...