The Peacock Room at 49 Prince's Gate

James McNeill Whistler|Pickford Robert Waller

1877–1905 · Watercolor over graphite · Drawings and Prints

The interior designer Waller admired James McNeil Whistler and here freely records part of a famous interior created in 1877 for the London house of Frederick Leyland, a Liverpool shipping magnate. When the house was being remodelled, Thomas Jeckyll designed an Anglo-Japanese dining room that featured antique Spanish leather on the walls, with spindeled wooden shelves built to hold Leyland's Chinese porcelain collection. When Jeckyll fell ill, James McNeill Whistler volunteered to complete the decorations then, at his own volition, painted the leather blue and added extensive gold ornament, angering Leyland. This watercolor brightens the hues, and shows mirrors behind some of the shelves, possibly added by Leyland's heirs. In 1904, the collector Charles Freer purchased the room for his Detroit mansion, and it now is installed at the Freer Gallery, Washington DC.

Artist

James McNeill Whistler|Pickford Robert Waller

Date

1877–1905

Medium

Watercolor over graphite

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Gift of Paul F. Walter, 1985