Ethel Whibley

Ethel Whibley Biography

Ethel Whibley, ne Philip (29 September 1861 - 21 April 1920), was the sister-in-law of James McNeill Whistler. Ethel was a secretary to Whistler who used Ethel as a model for a number of full-length portraits painted during the period 1888 to the mid-1890s. Her sister Beatrice (also called 'Beatrix' or 'Trixie') married James McNeill Whistler in 1888, following the death of her first husband Edward William Godwin. In 1896 Ethel married the writer Charles Whibley. Her sister Rosalind Birnie Philip (b. 1873) subsequently acted as secretary to Whistler and was appointed Whistler's executrix at his death.

Life

Ethel was born at Chelsea, London on 29 September 1861. Ethel was 4th of ten children of the sculptor John Birnie Philip and Frances Black. Ethel married Charles Whibley in 1896 in the garden of the house occupied by James Abbott McNeill Whistler at n 110 Rue du Bac, Paris.

Before her marriage Ethel worked for a time in 1893–94 as secretary to James McNeill Whistler. Whistler painted a number of full-length portraits of Ethel, including Mother of Pearl and Silver: The Andalusian and the watercolour Rose and Silver: Portrait of Mrs Whibley; and other sketches and etchings of her titled as Miss Ethel Philip or Mrs Whibley.

Correspondence between family members addressed personal, social and professional matters as Whistler's sisters-in-law acted as his models and secretaries to manage his business affairs. In correspondence Beatrice Whistler was referred to a 'Trixie' or 'Chinkie'; his sister-in-law and secretary (1890-94) Ethel Whibley was 'Bunnie'; his brother-in-law Charles Whibley was 'Wobbles'; his sister-in-law and secretary Rosalind Birnie Philip was referred to as the 'Major'; with Whistler signing family correspondence as the 'General' when he did not sign with his butterfly signature.

James McNeill Whistler's portraits of Ethel

Portraits in oil of Ethel Whibley are titled:

Mother of Pearl and Silver: The Andalusian (1888-1900)
Sketch for a Portrait of Miss Ethel Philip (1880s/1890s)
Sketch of Miss Ethel Philip (1890s)
Red and Black: The Fan (1891/1894)
Harmony in Brown: The Felt Hat (1891)
Miss Ethel Philip Reading (c. 1894)
Rose et or: La Tulipe (1892/1893)
Harmony in Black: Portrait of Miss Ethel Philip (c. 1894)
The Rose Scarf (c. 1890) (Oil on wood)

McLaren Young, Andrew, MacDonald, Margaret F., Spencer, Robin and Miles, Hamish, The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler, 2 vols, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1980 (YMSM 378. 388, 389, 395, 418, 419)
MacDonald, Margaret F., Galassi, Susan Grace and Ribeiro, Aileen, Whistler, Women, & Fashion, Frick Collection/Yale University (2003)

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