- Anna McNeill Whistler
right|300px|thumb|Whistler's Mother , a portrait of Anna's by her son,James McNeill Whistler , (1871).]Anna Matilda (nee. McNeill) Whistler (
September 27 ,1804 inWilmington, North Carolina –January 3 ,1881 inLondon ) was the mother of American-born, British-based painter,James McNeill Whistler , who made her the subject of his famous painting "Arrangement in Grey & Black", often titled, "Whistler's Mother " [ [http://www.mso509.com/norris2.html Whistler's Mother (and Brother)] ] .Biography
Anna McNeill Whistler was the daughter of Dr.
Daniel McNeill , aphysician , andMartha Kingsley McNeill .In 1831, she married
George Washington Whistler , a civil engineer and former army officer [ [http://www.wilmington-art.org/gallery.html "Whistler's Mother”] ] [ [http://www.trivia-library.com/a/famous-mothers-whistelers-mother-anna-mcneill-whistler.htm Whistler's Mother Anna McNeill Whistler] Famous Mothers.] , awidower who had three children. She gave birth to two sons,James McNeill Whistler andWilliam Whistler . Her husband soon accepted a job inRussia as arailway engineer betweenMoscow and St. Petersburg. She had a son named Kirkie who died age 4. A son named Charlie also died before Anna had moved to Russia.When James was nine, his art brought the attention of Scottish painter Sir
William Allen . Anna then enrolled James in theImperial Academy of Fine Arts at St. Petersburg. Her husband died in 1849 fromcholera .Anna returned to the
United States , to live inConnecticut . Her daughter remained inEngland after marrying a surgeon. It was then the family lived inpoverty but her daughter helped William and James attendprivate school . James entered West Point just before his 17th birthday and was expelled soon after. Her son William became a surgeon in theConfederate Army during theAmerican Civil War .In 1863, at the advice of her stepdaughter and son, she moved to England, moving in with her son in
London . She was surprised by his "flamboyant Bohemian lifestyle"; however, she tolerated it, and befriended some of his friends as well. This was around the time the famous painting was made, although it was not the only one. Anna was 67 during the painting of the picture.Further reading
* " Whistler's Mother: the Life of Anna McNeill Whistler", by Elizabeth Mumford. Plutarch Press (1971). [http://www.amazon.com/Whistlers-mother-life-McNeill-Whistler/dp/B00085PBVA]
* "The Correspondence of Anna McNeill Whistler", 1855–1880, edited by Georgia Toutziari [ [http://www.whistler.arts.gla.ac.uk/Correspondence/ Correspondence]University of Glasgow .]References
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