The Black Hat - Miss Rosalind Birnie Philip

James McNeill Whistler's late portrait of Miss Rosalind Birnie Philip — his sister-in-law and eventual heir, who became the custodian of his estate — belongs to the series of small-scale, intimist figure studies in which he refined his tonal aesthetic to its most economical expression in his final years. Rosalind Birnie Philip appears in several of Whistler's late works, and the designation 'The Black Hat' follows his practice of giving titles that describe formal qualities — tone and costume — rather than social identity. By 1901, Whistler was sixty-six and had abandoned the large exhibition pieces of his middle career in favor of these concentrated, small-format studies. The work is now at the Hunterian in Glasgow, which holds the world's largest Whistler collection.

The characteristic Whistlerian economy is fully evident: the figure is established through tonal masses — the black hat and dark costume against a neutral ground — with the face rendered through the most limited means that still convey individual presence. The paint surface is thin and gestural, the result of many revisions and the scraping down that was central to his technique.