Whistler's bed
- Object:
- Place of origin:
Paris, France (probably, made)
- Date:
- Artist/Maker:
- Materials and Techniques:
Mahogany veneer on a softwood, set with gilt bronze mounts
- Credit Line:
Given by Miss R. Birnie Philip
- Museum number:
- Gallery location:
- Download image
Tradition has it that Emperor Napoleon I gave this bed to the Comtesse Louise-Charlotte de Montesquiou-Fezensac in recognition of her services as governess to his son, the King of Rome. Whether that story is true or not is uncertain. What is known is that the comtesse’s great-grandson, Comte Robert de Montesquiou-Fezensac, gave the bed to the American painter James McNeill Whistler in 1892, perhaps in part payment for a portrait done by the artist in the previous year. Whistler was a collector of Empire furniture and he may well have valued the supposed history of the bed.
Physical description
A bed of mahogany, with gilt-bronze mounts, the foot and head boards of similar height, the top corners set with mounts of swans' heads, the front frieze with laurel leaves and figures of swans in bas-relief, the whole mounted on a plain plinth veneered with mahogany.
Place of Origin
Paris, France (probably, made)
Date
1800-1820 (made)
Artist/maker
Unknown (production)
Materials and Techniques
Mahogany veneer on a softwood, set with gilt bronze mounts
Marks and inscriptions
MAPLE'S DEPOSITORY
MCNEIL WHISTLER
Dimensions
Height: 116.8 cm, Length: 179 cm, Width: 119 cm
Object history note
This bed is said to have been given to the Comtesse de Montesquiou-Fezensac by Napoleon, in gratitude for her service as governess to the young King of Rome. In 1891-2 her great-grandson, Comte Robert de Montesquiou-Fezensac, gave the bed to the artist J.M. Whistler, after the latter had completed a portrait of him, which now hangs in the Frick Collection. The portrait was entitled 'Arrangement in Black and Gold: Comte Robert de Montesquiou-Fezensac. The Comte was a famous aesthete and is said to have provided Marcel Proust with the model for the character of Comte Charlus in his multi-volumen work 'A la Recherche du Temps Perdu'.
Descriptive line
Bed of mahogany and other woods, with gilt-bronze mounts, including swan heads
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Eden, Mary and Carrington, Richard. The Philosophy of the Bed London: Hutchinson, 1961 Plate12
Illustration only
Materials
Mahogany; Gilt bronze; Softwood; Giltwood
Techniques
Gilding; Veneering; Joinery
Subjects depicted
Lyre; Swans; Laurel swags
Categories
Furniture
Collection code
FWK
