James Abbot McNeill WHISTLER (1834-1903) The Music-Room.... Lot 4

James Abbot McNeill WHISTLER (1834-1903) The Music-Room. 1859. Etching. 21.4 x 14.1 cm. Kennedy 33. Very fine proof on thin white laid paper. Margins. Framed. The scene depicts Whistler's brother-in-law Seymour Haden with his wife Deborah in their London home at 62 Sloane Street. In the background is Haden's partner, surgeon James Reeves Traer, Whistler's close friend and physician. This peaceful scene of family intimacy conceals the fact that Haden and Traer were not on good terms. The latter (who had plunged into alcoholism) died suddenly in 1867 during a medical conference in Paris. Haden had him buried in secret at Père-Lachaise, provoking Whistler's anger. A quarrel broke out between the artist and his brother-in-law in a Parisian café, during which Haden fell through a glass window, ending the relationship between the two artists.