The Face of Whistler’s Peacock Room

Christina Spartali is the face of Princess in the artwork "La Princesse du pays de la porcelaine" that adorns the central wall of James McNeil Whistler’s Peacock Room. Christina and her sister Marie were well known in society as beautiful, educated, and cultured women. Both sisters posed for famous Aesthetic artists like Whistler and Victorian artists such as Dante Gabriel Rossetti. This photograph was taken of Christina by famous British photographer Julia Margaret Cameron. Julia has a portfolio that covers many famous celebrities of the nineteenth century.

The Peacock Room and "La Princesse du pays de la porcelaine" can be viewed year round in the Freer Gallery of Art.

For more images of the Peacock Room in our Collections Search Center click here.



Rachael Cristine Woody
Archivist
Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives
woodyr@si.edu