"One does like to make one's Mummy just as nice as possible." said James McNeill Whistler after he finished his most famous painting. Whistler's dignified, peaceful portrait of his mother, which he called Arrangement in Grey and Black, was nice enough to gain it lasting world esteem, make it the best-known painting by an American. But most Americans have never seen it in the original.
Part of the reason goes back to the lack of enthusiasm with which the picture was greeted in its early years. Whistler packed it off to the 1872 show...
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