“My husband wished me to say that he—he appreciated the honor of your inviting me to sit for a portrait, but that—that he did not wish to be understood as committing himself in any way, and the picture must not be considered a commission.”
“Dear me, no,” said Whistler, as he painted away; “under no circumstances. Lord Archibald need give himself no uneasiness,—my compensation is in your condescension. We are doing this for the pleasure there is in it.”
The portrait was finished, exhibited as “La Dame au Brodequin Jaune,”—and duly ridiculed.
Lady Campbell’s friends expressed surprise that she should have permitted so eccentric an artist to do so ugly a thing. But time went on; the picture made a profound sensation and won its way.
Some time after, Whistler met Lady Campbell in London, and she said to him:
“My dear Mr. Whistler, I hear my portrait has been exhibited everywhere and become famous.”
“Sh—sh—sh!” with finger on lips. “So it has, my dear Lady Archibald; but every discretion has been observed that Lord Campbell could desire,—your name is not mentioned. The portrait is known as ‘The Yellow Buskin.’” It is now in the Wilstach collection, in Philadelphia.
Whistler preferred to exhibit his work under conditions which he controlled. As early as 1874 he gave a special exhibition in London, and in the years 1880, 1881, 1883, 1884, and 1886 he exhibited
