Provenance
Probably painted 1621 for Frederick van Schurman (or Schuermans) [1564-1623], The Hague.[1] (sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 7 April 1922, no. 54); private collection, England; (John Mitchell & Sons, London); private collection, England; (Edward Speelman, Ltd., London); purchased 27 June 1996 by NGA.
[1] This painting is probably the one that Bosschaert took with him in 1621, when he traveled from Breda to The Hague to deliver a _blompot_ (flower still-life painting) to Frederick van Schurman (or Schuermans), the _bottelier_ of Prince Maurits. For this work Bosschaert received the extraordinary sum of 1,000 guilders. Maria Bosschaert, Ambrosius’ daughter, wrote the following: “Mijn vader Ambrosius Bosschaert is gesturven in Schravenhage in ‘t jaer als den 12 jarigen Trebes uut was, doch was woonachtig binnen Breda maer near den Hage getrocken om een blompot te leveren die hij hadde gemaeckt voor de bottelier van Sijn Hoochheyt daervoor hij dusent gulden hadde bedongen ende is aldaer sieck geworden ten huyse van joncker Schuermans, vader van Anna Maria Schuermans ende aldaer gesturven ende in Schravenhage begraven, tot droefheyt van veel liefhebbers.” See Abraham Bredius, “De bloemschilders Bosschaert,” _Oud-Holland_ 31 (1913):138. Frederick van Schurman had been ennobled by the Holy Roman Emperor, and the phrase Maria Bosschaert used to refer to Van Schurman, a _joncker_ (from the German _Junker_), is an honorary title that corresponds to the old inscription “Jonckheere …” on the verso of the painting.
Accession Number
1996.35.1
Medium
oil on copper
Dimensions
overall: 31.6 x 21.6 cm (12 7/16 x 8 1/2 in.) | framed: 53.3 x 43.8 x 5.7 cm (21 x 17 1/4 x 2 1/4 in.)
Classification
Painting
Credit Line
Patrons' Permanent Fund and New Century Fund
Tags
Painting Baroque (1600–1750) Oil Painting Copper Dutch
Background & Context
Background Story
Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1, painted between 1871 and 1872, is universally known as Whistler's Mother. It depicts Anna McNeill Whistler seated in profile against a grey wall, wearing a black dress and a lace cap. The composition is a masterwork of spareness: a vertical rectangle of dark fabric, a horizontal rectangle of wall, and the luminous face of an elderly woman.
Whistler painted his mother when the original model failed to appear. The painting was intended as a study in tonal harmony - an arrangement of greys and blacks comparable to a musical composition. Whistler gave his paintings musical titles to avoid narrative interpretation: he wanted viewers to see the pattern, not the person. The public ignored him and read the painting as a moving image of maternal piety.
The painting was created during Whistler's most radical period, when he was developing aesthetic theory. His insistence that art should be judged by formal qualities rather than subject matter anticipated Abstract Art and the theory of art for art's sake.
Cultural Impact
Whistler's Mother became the most iconic image of American motherhood. Yet its true significance is as a manifesto of aestheticism: the assertion that a portrait of an old woman in a black dress can be as beautiful and as formally rigorous as a symphony.
Why It Matters
This painting is Whistler's supreme demonstration that subject matter is irrelevant to artistic quality. His mother is both a specific woman and a pattern of tones - and the pattern, Whistler insisted, is all that matters.