Anna McNeill Whistler
Anna Matilda (née McNeill) Whistler (September 27, 1804 – January 31, 1881[1]) was the mother of American-born, British-based painter James McNeill Whistler, who made her the subject of his famous painting Arrangement in Grey and Black No.1, often titled Whistler's Mother.[2]
Biography
Anna McNeill Whistler was born in
In 1831, she married
When James was nine, his art brought the attention of Scottish painter Sir William Allan. Anna then enrolled James in the Imperial Academy of Arts at St. Petersburg. Her husband died in 1849 from cholera.
Anna returned to the United States, to live in
In 1863, at the advice of her stepdaughter and son, she moved to England, moving in with her son James in London. She later relocated to St Mary's Terrace, Hastings, east Sussex. She was surprised by her son's "flamboyant Bohemian lifestyle"; however, she tolerated it, and befriended some of his friends as well. This was around the time the famous painting was made, although it was not the only one. Anna was 67 during the painting of the picture. She died a decade later and is buried in Hastings Cemetery.
Further reading
- Mumford, Elizabeth (1939). Whistler's Mother: The Life of Anna McNeill Whistler. Little Brown & Co. Reissued in 1971 by Plutarch Press.
- ISBN 978-0300229684.
- Toutziari, Georgia, ed. The Correspondence of Anna McNeill Whistler, 1855–1880
- Walden, Sarah (2003). Whistler and His Mother: An Unexpected Relationship: Secrets of an American Masterpiece. London: Gibson Square; Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 1903933285.
References
- ^ "Hastings and Area, Past and Present". www.facebook.com. Archived from the original on 2022-02-26. Retrieved 2021-01-02.
- ^ Whistler's Mother (and Brother) Archived 2008-06-18 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ May, Philip (January 1945). "Zephaniah Kingsley, Nonconformist (1765–1843)", The Florida Historical Quarterly, 23 (3), p. 145–159.
- ^ "Whistler's Mother” Archived August 7, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Whistler's Mother Anna McNeill Whistler Famous Mothers.
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