Whistler Quote Mug

Let me discourse, for if other people are going to talk, there can be no conversation.” James McNeill Whistler

James Abbott McNeill Whistler and his work was introduced to Isabella Stewart Gardner through author and Gardner family friend Henry James in July 1879. It was Henry James who encouraged Mrs. Gardner to attend an opening at Grosvenor Gallery in London so that she could view an exhibit that featured Whistler’s work. During a  subsequent meeting with Whistler in London on October 30, 1886, Mrs. Gardner commissioned the artist to execute a small portrait of her for 100 guineas. Now, The Little Note in Yellow and Gold (1886) by James McNeill Whistler hangs in the Museum’s Veronese Room just as it did when Mrs. Gardner acquired it.

The collection contains over 100 Whistler-related objects, including his portrait of Isabella Stewart Gardner in Venice, other paintings, sketches, books, and letters that document his work as an artist and his friendship with Mrs. Gardner.


11 oz. ceramic mug
Dishwasher and microwave safe