Adieu mes enfants! Il est l'heure

James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) · 1858

Perhaps the genesis of this drawing was Whislter's daily trip to the post office in Cologne to see whether funds had been forwarded to ease his financial straits. Whistler and Delannoy stayed in Cologne for ten days, hoping to receive aid. "Every day they would go to the post office for letters, every day the officials would say 'nichts! nichts!' until they got to be known in the town." Herr Schmitz, the landlord at Whistler's hotel, seems to have been relatively sympathetic to the plight of the two young artists. This drawing could portray another friendly person at the hotel.