And he added that it would be possible to see the pictures in Westminster Palace Hotel close by, where he had placed them for the purpose.
Attorney-General: "I suppose you are willing to admit that your pictures exhibit some eccentricities. You have been told that over and over again?"
Whistler: "Yes, very often." (Laughter.)
Attorney-General: "You send them to the gallery to invite the admiration of the public?"
Whistler: "That would be such vast absurdity on my part that I don't think I could." (Laughter.)
Attorney-General: "Can you tell me how long it took you to knock off that Nocturne?"
Whistler: "I beg your pardon?" (Laughter.)
Attorney-General: "I am afraid that I am using a term that applies rather perhaps to my own work...."
Whistler: ... "Let us say then, how long did I take to 'knock off'—I think that is it—to knock off that Nocturne; well, as well as I remember, about a day.... I may have still put a few more touches to it the next day if the painting were not dry. I had better say, then, that I was two days at work on it."