National Museum of Asian Art
Chez George Sauer a Lion Rouge
James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) · 1858
Whistler's inscriptions on this quickly drawn portrait let us assume that the sitter is George Saure, owner of the Red Lion. Sauer has a proprietary hand on the small change next to his glass. This is probably the type of sketch with which the artist answered the question, "Ou mangez-vous?" for he drew to help pay his expenses during the trip. In his letter to Deborah Haden Whistler mentioned "how the first night I made a portrait in pencil...for a plate of soup."
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