Life of James McNeill Whistler, . er for him. She thought he had inherited a profes-sion more distinguished. Many Whistlers and McNeills had beensoldiers. West Point had made of them men—Americans. West Pointmust do the same for him. Through the influence of George Whistlerwith Daniel Webster, he was appointed cadet At Large by PresidentFillmore, and on July I, 1851, after two years at Pomfret school, withinten days of his seventeenth birthday, he entered the United StatesMilitary Academy, West Point, where Colonel Robert E. Lee wasCommandant. Whistler was not made for the army any more thanGi
Life of James McNeill Whistler, . er for him. She thought he had inherited a profes-sion more distinguished. Many Whistlers and McNeills had beensoldiers. West Point had made of them men—Americans. West Pointmust do the same for him. Through the influence of George Whistlerwith Daniel Webster, he was appointed cadet At Large by PresidentFillmore, and on July I, 1851, after two years at Pomfret school, withinten days of his seventeenth birthday, he entered the United StatesMilitary Academy, West Point, where Colonel Robert E. Lee wasCommandant. Whistler was not made for the army any more thanGiotto for Tuscan pastures, or Corot for a Paris bonnet shop. It wasinevitable that he should fail. Yet his three years at West Pointwere an experience he would not have missed. The record sent to us from West Point by Colonel C. W. Lamedis: He entered July 1, 1851, under the name of James ; aged sixteen years and eleven months. He was appointedAt Large. ... At the end of his second year, in 1853, he was absent20 [1851. (See page 38) B1BI LALOUETTE ETCHING. G. 51 West Point with leave on account of ill-health. On June 16, 1854, ne was dischargedfrom the Academy for deficiency in chemistry. At that time he stoodat the head of his class in drawing and No. 39 in philosophy, the totalnumber in the class being 43. The Professor of Drawing was Robert W. Weir. Mr. J. AldenWeir, his son, remembers, as a boy, my father showing me his work,which at that time hung in what was known as the Gallery of theDrawing Academy. There were about ten works by him the start he showed evidences of a talent which later provedto be unique in those fine and rare qualities hard to be understood bythe majority. Brigadier-General Alexander S. Webb, one of Whistlers classmates,says: In the art class one day, while Whistler was busy over an India-ink drawing of a French peasant girl, Weir walked, as usual, from deskto desk, examining the pupils work. After looking over Whistlersshoulder
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