Study of Thomas Carlyle

This drawing is a preliminary study for one of the Whistler's best known paintings entitled Arrangement in Grey and Black, No.2: Portrait of Thomas Carlyle, which is now in the collection of the City Art Gallery in Glasgow, Scotland. Several other studies for this masterpiece exist, notable a pastel version in the Freer Gallery, a pen drawing in the Fogg Art Museum, and oil sketch in the Art Institute of Chicago, and the present example.