James Abbott McNeill Whistler

James Abbott McNeill Whistler was romantically involved with several women. He was once in a relationship with model Joanna Hiffernan, and became involved with Maud Franklin after breaking up with Joanna. He had several illegitimate children.

He married Beatrice Godwin, the widow of his friend E. W. Godwin, in 1888. Theirs was a very happy marriage that was unfortunately cut short when his wife died of cancer. Her death shattered him and he never recovered fully from his grief.

He died in London on July 17, 1903, at the age of 69.

James Abbott Whistler was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, on July 11, 1834, to Anna Matilda McNeill and George Washington Whistler. He had several siblings, many of whom died in their childhood. His father was a railroad engineer.

His father was appointed as a chief engineer for the Boston & Albany Railroad in 1839, a position which earned him considerable fame and fortune. Tsar Nicholas I learned of George Whistler's amazing work with the Boston & Albany Railroad, and offered him an engineering position in 1842 in St. Petersburg, Russia. Thus the family moved to Russia in 1842.

James developed an interest in drawing and sketching at a young age. As a child he was prone to mood swings and temper tantrums but would calm down when offered the chance to draw and paint.

After moving to Russia, he took private art lessons and enrolled at the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts at the age of 11. He excelled in his education and started displaying signs of greatness.

He visited London with his family in the late 1840s and got the chance to meet art collectors and attend lectures. By now James had started collecting art books and studying other artists’ techniques.

James Abbott Whistler applied to the United States Military Academy at West Point and was selected in 1851. However, the army life did not suit him—he regularly broke the rules and performed poorly in courses and drill. The only aspect of army life that he liked was learning drawing and map making from American artist Robert W. Weir. He was eventually dismissed from the academy because of his misdemeanor.

By now he was convinced that he was meant to be an artist and moved to Europe to study art, arriving in Paris, France, in 1855. There he adopted the Bohemian lifestyle and became involved with the French modern movement.

He painted his first exhibited work, ‘La Mere Gerard’ in 1858. He then moved to London and settled there even though he continued making frequent visits to Paris. In 1859, he painted a portrait of his niece and her mother in their London music room, ‘At the Piano’.

The year 1861 was an eventful one for him. His painting, ‘Symphony in White, No. 1: The White Girl’, a portrait of his mistress Joanna became the first of his famous works. It was critically acclaimed and shown in a private gallery under the title ‘The Woman in White’.

During the 1860s, he became fascinated with nocturnal paintings, night scenes primarily set in harbors, painted with a blue or light green palette. He painted several such “nocturnes” over the ensuing years, many of which were of the River Thames and of Cremorne Gardens.

James Abbott McNeill Whistler is best known for the painting known as ‘Whistler's Mother’. Originally called ‘Arrangement in Grey and Black No.1’, it is a nearly monochromatic full-length figure of an elderly woman seated on a chair. The painting became very famous and was accepted as a universal icon of motherhood by the worldwide public.