Nocturne in Black and Gold, the Falling Rocket

This heavily damaged photograph is a product of Whistler's curious relationship with photography. Though he never engaged with it as an artistic medium, Whistler often gave signed and mounted photographs of his paintings as gifts. Hiroko Suda's 2008 dissertation on Whistler's photographs includes this remarkable anecdote:

When asked by Princess Louise in 1876 to paint her a copy of The Mother, Whistler gave her a photograph of it instead. Her response is not known. Remarkably, the artist did not hesitate to give the photograph to the princess, suggesting he thought that the photograph was enough to fulfill her request.