Landing dock at the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts, which James attended in irregular fashion
Ferdinand Victor Perrot (1808–1841). Landing Stage at the Academy of Fine Arts. 1841. Lithograph tinted with watercolor. 26.5 x 44.5 cm. State Museum of the History of St. Petersburg. [full resolution image]
Image 156
The staircase in the entrance hall of the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts
Ivan Alekseevich Ivanov (1779–1848). Main Staircase of the Academy of Fine Arts. 1830. 106 x 88 cm. Oil on canvas. Museum of the Russian Academy of Arts, St. Petersburg. [full resolution image]
Image 157
Academician Mikhailov himself copying in the Second Ancient Gallery of the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts
Grigory Karpovich Mikhailov (1814−1867). Second Ancient Gallery in the Academy of Fine Arts. 1836. Oil on canvas. 138 x 170.5 cm. State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg. [full resolution image]Note1 A description of the painting is as follows:On the left, by the wall with two levels of windows, behind a balustrade, are plaster casts of ancient statues and vases; by the right wall is another row of such casts. Above, on the right wall, between two copies of frescoes by Raphael, hangs a copy of Titian’s Assumption of the Mother of God. Through the open door into the rotunda can be seen an equestrian statue. Above the door is The Death of Camilla by F. Bruni. By the door are a guard, a civil servant, and an Academy student, who is drawing. In the foreground, in the right corner of the painting, is the artist himself, in the uniform of an academician, sitting on a folding chair and holding a drawing pad and pencil. (Imperatorskaia Akademiia khudozhestv. Muzei: Russkaia zhipovis’, ed. S.K. Isakov [Petrograd: Union, 1915], p. 167)
Image 158
Professor Karl Pavlovich Briullov, mentor to Aleksandr Osipovich Koritskii, James Whistler’s private drawing teacher, in the life class at the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts in 1844
Aleksei Filippovich Chernyshev (1824–1863). K. Briullov in the Life Class at the Academy of Fine Arts. 1844. (Kornilova, Karl Briullov, unnumbered pages between pp. 128 and 129) [full resolution image]
Image 159
A page from the registry book showing that Ticket no. 355 was issued “to James Whistler, son of an American” (“Iakovu Uisleru synu Amerikantsa”) to attend drawing classes at the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts, and that nine rubles were paid for the ticket on 26 March [7 April] 1845 received by Koritskii (James’s private drawing teacher) that day (“26 Mart. 9. Poluchil Koritskii”).
RGIA: Fond 789, op. 19, d. 734, fol. 18v. Kniga o vydache biletov raznym litsam poseshchaiushchim Risoval’nye klassy IAKh za 1845 g. i 1846 g. [Book concerning the issuing of tickets to various persons attending drawing classes at the IAFA in 1845 and 1846]. Entry for James Whistler. [full resolution image]
Image 160
A page from the registry book showing that the holder of ticket no. 355 was James Whistler, who lived in Ritter’s house on the English Embankment (“Uisler (Iakov) v dome rittera na Angliiskoi naberezhnoi”)
RGIA: Fond 789, op. 19, d. 733, fol. 31r. Kniga dlia zapisi biletov, vydavaemykh uchashchimsia na poseshchenie risoval’nykh klassov na 1845 g. [Book for registering tickets issued to pupils to attend drawing classes in 1845]. Entry for James Whistler. [full resolution image]
Image 161
A page from the registry book showing that the holder of ticket no. 341 was William Whistler, son of a Major in American service 18 Feb. 9 r [rubles] received by A. Koritskii (“Villiamu Uisleru synu Amerikanskoi sluzh. Maiora 18 Fevr. 9r. Poluchil A. Koritskii”)
RGIA: Fond 789, op. 19, d. 734. Kniga o vydache biletov raznym litsam poseshchaiushchim Risoval’nye klassy IAKh za 1845 g. i 1846 g. [Book concerning the issuing of tickets to various persons attending drawing classes at the IAFA in 1845 and 1846], fol. 40r. Entry for William Whistler. [full resolution image]
Image 162
This list of Academy pupils consists of six columns. In the first column, the last name in the list of four beginning with the letter “У” says “Uisler Jakov Vil[iam?] (identified by the red arrow), which is in English “Whistler James William.” In the third column, Willie’s ticket number (341) and his grade on the examination (28) are shown (identified by the green arrow). At the top of the page, the date of the examination (3 March) is shown (identified by the blue arrow).
RGIA: Fond 789, op. 19, d. 735, fol. 140v. Spisok uchenikov Akademii Koim vydany bilety dlia poseshcheniia klassov s pokazaniem poluchennykh imi na èkzamenakh medalei. S 1845 po 1849 g. [List of Academy pupils to whom tickets were issued to attend classes, showing the medals received by them on examinations. From 1845 through 1849]. [full resolution image]
Image 163
Neoclassical drawing made by James while attending the lowest level drawing course (taught by Vistelius) at the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts. Written on the top right in Russian is “Vistelius””; on the bottom right “Visler”; below that, someone has written in English “James Whistler.” This drawing was once owned by the Winans family.
James Abbott Whistler (1834–1903). Woman’s head. Pencil on beige wove paper. 44.3 x 30.4 cm (17 7/16 x 11 15/16 in.). (MacDonald, Catalogue Raisonné, p. 11) [full resolution image]
Image 164
Pencil and watercolor drawing on page 39 of James Whistler’s St. Petersburg Sketchbook, 1844–1848, inscribed “Render Unto Ceasar the Things that are Ceaser’s [sic]”
James Abbott Whistler (1834–1903). Render Unto Ceasar the Things that are Ceaser’s. Pencil and watercolor. St. Petersburg Sketchbook, 1844–1848, p. 39. Hunterian Art Gallery, University of Glasgow, Scotland. (MacDonald, Catalogue Raisonné, p. 7) [full resolution image]
Image 165
Pencil drawing on page 11 of James Whistler’s St. Petersburg Sketchbook, 1844–1848 of two Russian men in working garb
James Abbott Whistler (1834–1903). Two Russians in Working Dress. St. Petersburg Sketchbook, p. 11. Hunterian Art Gallery, University of Glasgow, Scotland. (Macdonald, Catalogue Raissoné, p. 5) [full resolution image]
Image 166
James’s sketch inside a book cover
James Abbott Whistler (1834–1903). Drawings in a French Grammar: Head of a Man with Curly Hair. 1843–1845. Signed “J.A.W.” Glasgow University Library, Glasgow, Scotland. (Macdonald, Catalogue Raissoné, p. 2) [full resolution image]
Image 167
Aleksandr Osipovich Koritskii, James Whistler’s private drawing teacher in St. Petersburg, as he appeared in 1846
Karl Briullov (1799–1852). Portrait of Koritskii, Pupil of K.P. Briullov. 1846. Graphite pencil on paper; on a sheet with other drawings. 22.8 x 28.7 cm. Signed on bottom center in ink: Karl Briullov 1846; inscribed top center in ink: “Portrait of K.P. Briullov’s pupil Koritskii.” State Tret’iakov Gallery, Moscow (inv. no. 9967). [full resolution image]
Image 168
Aleksandr Osipovich Koritskii, James Whistler’s private drawing teacher, as he appeared in October 1860
Cartoons of James Whistler’s private drawing teacher, Aleksandr Osipovich Koritskii, by Karl Briullov, 1843–1847
Karl Briullov (1799–1852). Portrait of Alexander Koritsky. 1843–1844. Cartoon. Italian pencil on paper. 19.8 x 29.5 cm. State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg (P–2217). [full resolution image]Karl Briullov (1799–1852). Alexander Koritsky Sitting at a Table. 1843–1847. Cartoon. Italian pencil on paper. 19.8 x 30 cm. State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg (P–97). [full resolution image]
Image 171
Koritskii’s Napoleon, drawn in James’s sketchbook in 1847
Alexander Osipovich Koritskii (1818–1866). Napoleon Bonaparte. In James McNeill Whistler, St. Petersburg Sketchbook, p. 23. Hunterian Art Gallery, University of Glasgow, Scotland. “Signed illegibly, ‘A [Koritskii] 1847- March 17. –’” (Macdonald, Catalogue Raissoné, pp. 4, 5) [full resolution image]
Image 172
In March–April 1845, Koritskii presented his oil study on the subject of Vulcan Forging the Arms of Achilles in the Presense ofThetis (Vulkan kuet oruzhie Akhillesu v prisutstvii Fetidy) assigned to him by the Academy Council in the program set for the small gold medal in the category of history painting
Alexander Osipovich Koritskii (1818–1866). Vulcan Forging the Arms of Achilles in the Presence of Thetis. 1845. Oil on canvas. 27.4 x 32.2 cm. Inscribed lower right: “A. Koritskii. In the collection of S.A. Bakhrushin until 1920, when it entered the collection of the Tretiakov Gallery.” State Tret’iakov Gallery, Moscow (inv. no. 4761). [full resolution image]
Image 173
Karl Briullov’s self-portrait in oil, painted in 1848
Karl Briullov (1799–1852). Self-Portrait. 1848. Oil on cardboard. 64.1 x 54 cm (25.2 x 21.2 in.). State Tret’iakov Gallery, Moscow (inv. no. 5051). [full resolution image]
Images 174, 175
In late 1848, Koritskii told Anna and Major Whistler that he was now going daily to the Hermitage and copying works painted by K.P. Briullov hanging in the study of Empress Aleksandra Fyodorovna.
Karl Briullov (1799–1852). Italian Morning, 1823. Oil on canvas. Kunsthalle, Kiel, Germany. [full resolution image]Karl Briullov (1799–1852). Italian Noonday. 1827. Oil on canvas. 21.6 x 25.1 in. (55 x 64 cm). State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg (Zh-5079). [full resolution image]
Image 176
In late 1848, Anna Whistler wrote James that Koritskii had told her and Major Whistler that Briullov was “at present painting a beautiful group, three nuns at the organ, one playing, the others singing in deep devotion!”
Karl Briullov (1799–1852). The Nuns of the Monastery of the Sacred Heart in Rome Singing at the Organ. 1849. Oil on canvas. 53.4 x 76.3 cm. State Tret’iakov Gallery, Moscow (Zh-722). On the reverse side of the canvas in the lower left corner is inscribed: “This picture was painted by Karl Briullov in 1849 and presented by him as a gift to Countess Sofiia Osipovna Shuvalova. Flowers were brought to him by Countess Shuvalova and he painted them” (see Èsfir Atsarkina, “Maloizvestnye proizvedeniia K. Briullova” [“Little-Known Works by K. Briullov”], Iskusstvo 3 [1950], pp. 64–71). [full resolution image]
Image 177
A number of unfinished versions of Sleeping Juno (the Origin of the Milky Way) by Karl Briullov exist.
Karl Briullov (1799–1852). Sleeping Juno. 1840s. Oil on canvas. State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg. [full resolution image]Karl Briullov (1799–1852). Sleeping Juno and a Parca with the Infant Hercules (the Origin of the Milky Way). 1840s. Oil on canvas. 52.5 × 67.1 cm. State Tret’iakov Gallery, Moscow. [full resolution image]
Image 178
James was too ill to attend the exhibition of marine paintings by Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovskii in February–March 1847 at the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts that Anna Whistler described.
Alexey Vasilievich Tyranov (1808–1859). Portrait of Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovskii. 1841. State Tret’iakov Gallery, Moscow. [full resolution image]
Image 179
Peter I at Krasnaia Gorka Lighting a Bonfire on the Shore as a Beacon to His Foundering Ships, lent from the Imperial collection, was included in the Aivazovskii exhibition at the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts in February–March 1847.
Ivan KonstantinovichAivazovskii (1817–1900). Peter I at Krasnaia Gorka Lighting a Bonfire on the Shore as a Beacon to His Foundering Ships. 1846. Oil on canvas. 223 x 235 cm. State Tret’iakov Gallery, Moscow (Zh-5879). [full resolution image]
Images 180, 181, 182
Anna Whistler described having seen, in the Aivazovskii exhibit, delightful smaller views of Odessa, Constantinpole, and other seaports
View of Odessa [Odessa in Moonlight]. 1846. (48 x 78.4 in. (122 x 190 cm). Oil on canvas. Signature and date bottom right. State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg (F-2201). [full resolution image]Constantinople by Evening Light. 1846. Oil on canvas. 47.2 x 74.4 in. (120 x 189 cm). Cottage Palace, Peterhof. [full resolution image]View of Constantinople by Moonlight. 1846. State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg. [full resolution image]
Image 183
From June 1853 until his death, Koritskii served as junior assistant to Fyodor Antonovich Bruni, director of the Second Department of the Hermitage. The Second Department encompassed paintings, drawings, sculpture, porcelain, and bronze and bone objects.
Fyodor Moller (1812–1874). Portrait of Fyodor Bruni. 1840. Oil on canvas. 73 × 59 cm. State Tret’iakov Gallery, Moscow. [full resolution image]
Image 184
Anna Whistler was impressed by the faces that she thought she saw beaming with faith in Bruni’s painting The Brass Serpent in the permanent collection of the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts in March-April 1847.
Fyodor Antonovich Bruni (1799–1875). The Bronze Serpent. 1841. Oil on canvas. 565 x 852 cm. State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg (Z-5070). [full resolution image]
Image 185
Faddei Antonovich Goretskii, along with their mentor K.P. Briullov, was present in December 1846 / January 1847 when Koritskii was drawing the portrait of “the American,” and therefore was aware of the latter’s identity.
