Whistler, James Abbott McNeill | A reproachful letter to his son

Whistler, James Abbott McNeill

Two autograph letters signed ("JMcN Whistler") to Charles James Whistler Hanson and Miss Rubell

The first letter, 1 page on French telegram form (40 x 111 mm), Paris, (20 April 1895), to Miss Rubell, Paris. The second, 2 pages (226 x 153 mm), Paris, (15 June 1895), to Charles James Whistler Hanson, London; vertical and horizontal folds; autograph envelope.

A reproachful letter from Whistler to his son. Charles James Whistler Hanson (1870–1935) was Whistler's illegitimate son with parlor maid Louisa Fanny Hanson. The boy was raised by Whistler's Irish muse and mistress Joanna Heffernan and supported by the painter and his brother. Whistler was known to be harsh and strict with the young man, as this letter demonstrates. "The fact of your asking my opinion, is, I am pleased to believe, a proof of your being uneasy in your mind. It is scarcely necessary for me to point out that you could hardly be guilty of a greater offence to Capt. McEvoy than by appropriating in this way one of his ideas and rendering it useless to himself by 'improving' upon it, and patenting, under his very nose, your version of it!"

The letter to Miss Rubell concerns changing the date for their appointment.