Lecture: Whistler and the Misses Pettigrew

In an illustrated lecture, distinguished Whistler scholar Linda Merrill discusses the three Pettigrew sisters, professional London models who posed for so many leading Victorian painters that they became celebrities in their own right. The youngest, Rosie, was especially adored by James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903), an American expatriate, and his British artist-wife, Beatrix, who provided a maternal presence in the studio. Although we rarely see her face, Rosie was Whistler’s primary muse for his series of Tanagra lithographs.
This lecture was presented in conjunction with the exhibition "Recasting Antiquity: Whistler, Tanagra, and the Female Form," co-curated by Merrill, teaching professor and director of undergraduate studies in the Emory’s Art History Department, and Ruth Allen, curator of Greek and Roman Art at the Carlos Museum.
Learn more about the exhibition: carlos.emory.edu/exhibition/recasting-antiquity