It has often been said that Whistler was never welcomed at the Royal Academy. This point remains debatable; the fact remains that the artist was constantly in evidence during the early part of his career. In 1859 he exhibited _two etchings from nature_ (the title given in the catalogue to one frame); in 1860 the celebrated _At the Piano_ (which was bought by an Academician) and five other works, namely, _Monsieur Astruc, Rédacteur du Journal l’Artiste_ (Drypoint); _Thames—Black Lion Wharf_; _Portrait_ (Drypoint); _W. Jones, Lime Burner, Thames Street_ (Etching); and _The Thames, from the Tunnel Pier_. In 1861 he was represented by one canvas, _La Mère Gérard_, together with _Thames from New Crane Wharf_ (Etching); _Monsieur Oxenfeld, Littérateur, Paris_ (Drypoint); _The Thames, near Limehouse_ (Etching). In 1862 he sent two paintings, _The Twenty-Fifth of December, 1860, on the Thames, Alone with the Tide_; and _Rotherhithe_ (Etching). The next year, 1863, was prolific. The catalogue contains the following titles: _The Last of Old Westminster_; _Weary_ (Drypoint); _Old Westminster Bridge_; _Hungerford Bridge_ (Etching); _The Forge_ (Drypoint); _Monsieur Becgis_ (Etching); _The Pool_ (Drypoint). Two works were on view in 1864: _Wapping_ and _Die Lange Lizen—of the Six Marks_. In 1865 he exhibited _The Golden Screen_; _Old Battersea Bridge_; _The Little White Girl_ (with a quotation in the catalogue of fourteen lines from Swinburne); and _The Scarf_. Whistler was not represented in 1866, but in 1867 exhibited the _Symphony in White No. 3_; _Battersea_; and _Sea and Rain_. After a break of two years came _The Balcony_ in the Academy of 1870. The next year’s catalogue does not contain his name, but in 1872 the Academy accepted that exquisite example of his art, now in the Luxembourg, _Arrangement in Grey and Black: Portrait of the Painter’s Mother_. For six years Whistler was an absentee, being represented for the last time on the walls of Burlington House, in 1879, by _Old Putney Bridge_ (Etching). [Illustration: PORTRAIT OF THOMAS CARLYLE · J. A. McN. WHISTLER ] [Illustration: PRINCESS OF THE PORCELAIN COUNTRY · J. A. McN. WHISTLER ]