Purple and Rose: The Lange Leizen of the Six Marks, James Abbott McNeill Whistler, oil on canvas, roughly 37 x 24 inches (93 x 61 cm); in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which has both a zoomable and downloadable image on their site.
The original painting is here in Philadelphia and I’ve admired it many times. I can also say with confidence that the museum’s own image of the painting is too dark (as is often the case). I’ve taken the liberty of lightening the image as I’ve shown it here.
Whistler, like many of his 19th century European and American contemporaries, became fascinated with the prints, ink paintings, pottery and other cultural artifacts being imported from Eastern Asia at the time.
Here, he has posed his model in colorful tradational dress, surrounded by blue and white Chinese porcelain, many pieces of which were from his own collection.
“Lange Leizen” is a Dutch term for “long ladies”, referring to a genre of decorative pottery that featured images of thin women.
I love the painterly touch in his depictions of the porcelain and fabric.
