Peacock Room

Peacock Room.  Acrylic on canvas.  8 x 8 inches. (2017).  $275.

The Peacock Room’s interesting history began in the 19^th century when Frederick Leyland, a British shipping magnate, commissioned architect Thomas Jeckyll to design a room for his London home to display his collection of Chinese porcelain.  The American, expatriate artist, James McNeill Whistler was asked to redecorate the room in 1876 and 1877, and did so inspired by the Asian pottery.  He called the painted murals, “Harmony in Blue and Gold: The Peacock Room.”  Later, Charles Lang Freer purchased the room and moved it to his Detroit mansion in 1904.  The Peacock Room which contains Whistler’s painted walls and Freer’s own collection of Egyptian-purchased artifacts and Asian pottery, now finds its home in the Freer and Sackler Galleries, located in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

This painting takes inspiration from the gold, copper and teal colors of this classic early 20^th century work of art, design and architecture.