Anna McNeill Whistler

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Anna Matilda (nee. McNeill) Whistler (September 27, 1804 in Wilmington, North Carolina – January 3, 1881 in London) is the subject of Whistler's Mother. She was the daughter of Dr. Daniel McNeill, a physician, and Martha Kingsley McNeill.

She later married George Washington Whistler, a widower who had three children. She gave birth to two sons, James McNeill Whistler and William Whistler. Her husband soon accepted a job in Russia as a railway engineer between Moscow and St. Petersburg. She had a son named Kirkie whom died age 4. A son named Charlie also died before Anna had moved to Russia. When James was nine, his art brought the attention of Scottish painter Sir William Allen. Anna then enrolled James in the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts at St. Petersburg. Her husband died in 1849 from cholera.

Anna returned to the United States, to live in Connecticut. Her daughter remained in England after marrying a surgeon. It was then the family lived in poverty but her daughter helped William and James attend private school. James entered West Point just before his 17th birthday and was expelled soon after. Her son William became a surgeon in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War.

In 1863, at the advice of her stepdaughter and son, she moved to England, moving in with her son in London. She was surprised by his "flamboyant Bohemian lifestyle"; however, she tolerated it, and befriended some of his friends as well. This was around the time the famous painting was made, although it was not the only one. Anna was 67 during the painting of the picture.