Toward the middle of the seventies recognition appeared to come more readily. He seemed to know everybody of note, and everybody seemed to know him. His writings and controversies attracted considerable attention, his supremacy as an etcher had been admitted, and his pictures became more widely known. He had gathered around him a number of wealthy patrons, who were connoisseurs and keen appreciators of his talents. He was so successful financially in the latter part of his life that he had residences and studios in Paris as well as in London. At Paris his headquarters were in the rue du Bac. In London he had various quarters,—on Fulham Road, Tite Street, Langham Street, Alderney Street, St. Regents Street, The Vale, etc. Going from one place to the other as his moods dictated to him, with an occasional sketching trip to Venice, to Holland or the northern parts of France, he lived the true life of the artist, quarrelled with his friends, delighted his admirers with the products of his fancies, and astounded the intelligent public on two continents with the caprices of his temper. Strange to say, even at that time, his best work had already left his easel. He was busy with minor, but not less interesting, problems and devoted most of his time to etchings, pastels and lithographs. But it was at this time that his "Ten O'clock" and "The Gentle Art of Making Enemies" were published; and when his "Carlyle" found its way to the Glasgow City Gallery, and "The Portrait of the Artist's Mother" was purchased by the Luxembourg Gallery at Paris.

Comparatively little is known of Whistler's private life. I wonder how many of his admirers, excepting his personal friends, were acquainted during his life-time with the fact that he was married, and could tell whom he had married. He remained a bachelor until his fifty-fourth year, when he married the widow of his friend E. W. Godwin, the architect of the "White House." She was the daughter of John Bernie Philip, a sculptor, and was herself an etcher. They were married on Aug. 11, 1888. Eight years later his wife died, May 10th, 1896.

How this man of moods and capricious tastes got along in married life the general public has never found out. His friends assure us that it was a happy union and that he was deeply devoted to his wife. He has painted her repeatedly, but the pictures do not betray any domestic secrets to the public. Although Whistler was fond of notoriety, and managed to keep himself continually before the public,—in the fullest limelight, so to speak,—he never allowed personal news and the details of his everyday life to claim the attention of the public. All his innumerable feuds and press displays were related to his work,—to his completed pictures and theories of art. He liked to play upon his personality, but only as far as the artist was concerned. He was peculiarly free from the taint of exploiting his own domestic affairs. He hated biographies and all references to his family life. Even in his feuds with his old friends, F. R. Leyland, and his brother-in-law, Seymour Haden, when he brutally dragged apparent private matters into the glare of publicity, the discriminating observer will notice that his controversies, sarcasms and interpretations refer solely to "art situations" and never descend to the low depths of personal abuse.

THE SELF PORTRAIT OF 1859.

James McNeill Whistler was born on July 10th (some say July 11th), 1834, at Lowell, Mass. One of his ancestors, a Dr. Whistler, is frequently mentioned in Pepys' delicious diary. He was baptized James Abbott Whistler in the Church of St. Anne, at Lowell. His father, Major George Washington Whistler, was a civil engineer and, during the first eight years of James' life, moved from Lowell to Stonington, Connecticut, thence to Springfield, Massachusetts, and, finally, in 1842, went to Russia to superintend the construction of the railroad from St. Petersburg to Moscow. The following year the family sailed from Boston to make their home in St. Petersburg.

This was the first impression the boy Whistler received from the outside world, and no doubt the trip across the Atlantic and the sojourn in a foreign country made a lasting impression upon him. Russia, with its quaint old civilization and touches of barbaric splendour, was the country to excite the imagination of any boy, and the change from a New England village life to the metropolitan turmoil of St. Petersburg would have left imperishable traces in any receptive mind. The father was paid lavishly and the boy was brought up in luxury.

The first report of any art talent in the boy can be found in the reference, mentioned by several biographers, to his taking lessons at the Imperial Academy of Sciences at St. Petersburg. It had probably no particular bearing on his career, since art teaching in Russia was traditional, and probably consisted of nothing but drawing from wooden models and plaster casts. It informs us, however, of the fact that he became familiar with the rudiments of drawing at an early age. Of by far greater importance to his development were his visits to the Hermitage. There he saw for the first time Velasquez and he learnt to differentiate between painters who could paint and such who could only tell a story in line and colour.