Tales of the Tomb

DANIEL E. SUTHERLAND - LETTERS FROM AMERICA

Reading Hallie Swanson’s splendid article about Frederick R. Leyland’s tomb in the summer Newsletter set me thinking about Whistler’s tomb.  As you may know, the Master’s resting place is in the graveyard of St. Nicholas Church in Chiswick, but why did he choose that particular spot to be buried?  Why and by whom was his tomb made?  With Hallie having answered those questions about his nemesis Leyland, I hear Whistler demanding equal time.

     Elizabeth and Joseph Pennell say that Whistler and Beatrice chose the site together.  The reliability of the Pennells’ reporting aside, Whistler fancied St. Nicholas as his last stop on earth for two reasons.  First, it is very near the Thames, which had defined his life and work in so many ways.  Stephen Bartley tells me it was possible at the time to see the river from the graveyard, though the view is now sadly obstructed by modern housing.  Equally, though, St. Nicholas is where William Hogarth—Whistler’s first artistic hero—is buried.  Beatrice, who died seven years before Whistler, in 1896, was first laid to rest in their plot.  Her grave was adorned with a rose-covered trellis, which is how it looked when Whistler joined her.

     That was all well and good, but Whistler’s youngest sister-in-law and the executrix of his estate Rosalind Bernie Philip wanted something grander.  In 1909, she commissioned Whistler’s stepson, Edward Francis Godwin (1876-1957), to produce a tomb.  Teddy, as he was called, was a well-known sculptor who exhibited at the Royal Academy several times between 1905 and 1921.  Working from his studio above the Chenil Gallery at 183 King’s Road (now refurbished and an outlet for LEMA furnishings), it took him three years to complete the task.  The final cost was £618.11.9 (about £90,000 today), paid for by Aunt Lin.  That included £164.2.3 for Teddy’s labour.

     Rosalind publicized their success by having a photograph of the tomb published in the widely read Building News, whose editors embellished the image with a written tribute to Whistler.  His grave, they proposed, had “always been well garnished with flowers.”  Now, in this “prettily-situated and well secluded cemetery midst the trees hard by the banks of the Thames,” it would be marked, and appropriately so, by Godwin’s sublime memorial.

Categorized as a hollow “Chest tomb,” Godwin’s work does not hold the remains of Whistler and Beatrice but is mounted atop their graves.  When listed as a Grade II “building” in 1988 by Historic England, it was described this way: “Bronze chest tomb set on stone ashlar pedestal. Central inscription panel, flanked by pairs of fluted Ionic pilasters which flank festoons of husks. Each cornice had a gilt bronze angel, which have been stolen. Frieze of bayleaf festoons, beneath Ionic cornice. Similar Ionic pilasters flank laurel wreath in each end panel.”  Note the word “stolen,” but more about that in a moment.

     The inscription panel referred to features Whistler’s own words, taken from an 1897 letter to his sister-in-law Ethel Whibley.  Told by Ethel of her plans to visit Beatrice’s grave, he reminded her that it was “The place where I also at last hope to be hidden for in no other would I be.”  Rosalind, being the conservator of Whistler’s correspondence, spotted the reference and had Teddy incorporate it in his design.

     Rosalind accepted responsibility for maintaining both tomb and grave site.  All went well until May 1942, when she learned that the man (a Mr Jackson) who had tended the grounds around the tomb was retiring due to advanced age.  As Rosalind explained in writing to the Chiswick Town Clerk, “He has kept the grass in order on the 2 plots which I own, cut the creepers on the wall, & sanded the surround of the tomb.”  She urged the clerk to tell whoever succeeded Jackson to follow the same routine but not touch the tomb itself.  She alone cared for it, including having it “professionally” bronzed every year.  Rosalind continued faithfully in her duty until passing in 1958.  Ironically, she was buried, like Leyland, at Brompton Cemetery, though at some distance from Whistler’s erstwhile patron.

Would that Rosalind had lived longer, for the tomb has acquired a woebegone appearance in recent years.  The shifting of the ground beneath it has caused the monument to lean slightly to one side.  I once asked the late David Le Lay, founder of our Society and a distinguished architect, if the tilt could be corrected.  He explained that it could be done, but only at significant cost and only with temporary results.  In time, he said, the earth was bound to move and shift again.

     But that is not the worst part.  As suggested, the tomb has also been targeted by vandals, several times, in fact, most recently last December.   The bronze statues (of angels) were first stolen in the late 1960s and not restored until 1996.  The reinstallation was a joint effort of the Old Chiswick Protection Society, English Heritage, and the University of Glasgow, with public funding coming from the UK, Canada, and US.  When those statues (again in bronze) were also snatched a few weeks later, the cornices remained barren until graced with resin copies in 2003.  Perhaps hoping to discourage future thefts, a plaque was mounted on the wall behind the tomb describing their sad saga and emphasizing that the new angels were resin, not bronze.

The plea failed to work.  Even the resin figures have now been pilfered.  Discussions are currently underway concerning the possibility of a new restoration.  Two additional sets of the resin statues (recently exhibited at St. Nicholas) have been retained, and one of them might be mounted at a reasonable cost.  However, given the discouraging history of thefts, some people have questioned the practicality of such an effort at present.  Anyone wishing to know more about a possible restoration or how to join that effort should contact Stephen Bartley at stephenbartley48@gmail.com.