JOHN BUTLER YEATS | A HAUNTED CHAMBER

The Artist, thence by family descent

Fintean Cullen in The Drawings of John Butler Yeats (exh. cat.), 1987, p.25

Possibly Dublin, Royal Hibernian Academy, 1900;

Dublin, 6 St Stephen's Green, A Loan Collection of Pictures by Nathaniel Hone and John Butler Yeats, October - November 1901;

New York, Albany Institute of History & Art, The Drawings of John Butler Yeats, 11 April - 31 May 1987, no.14, illustrated

It is possible that A Haunted Chamber is that mentioned in a letter by John Butler Yeats to William Butler Yeats in 1899, which talks of having finished "two black and whites which you would like - the titles are suggestive 'Love's Farewell' and 'A Haunted Chamber'". The source of the subject is unknown but a decade before, in order to raise money, John Butler Yeats had decided to write a ghost story which he planned to illustrate. Lolly's diary from 1888-89 mentions this ghost story which John dictated to her every day for two months. The story failed to sell and the illustrations remained in the family, which may include some of those here. 

Another work in the group depicting a young woman and a man playing a concertina is a preparatory study for JBY's Music's Golden Tongue, c.1893-94 - a full-page illustration he produced for the family magazine 'Leisure Hour', vol.43, 1984, p.546. It is likely that Lily Yeats was the model for the girl.