Provenance

• Before 1892: Otto Goldschmidt (1829-1907);
• 1907: passed to his estate;
• 1913: recorded as sold by 'Mrs Goldschmidt' – possibly Mrs B. M. Goldschmidt (fl. 1913) – to Knoedler, New York art dealers;
• 1914: sold by Knoedler's to Mary Williamson Averell (Mrs E. H. Harriman) (1851-1932), New York, January 1914;
• 1932: bequeathed to her son, W. Averell Harriman (1891-1986);
• 1962: given by Mr and Mrs W. Averell Harriman to the White House, Washington, DC, in August 1962.

Otto Goldschmidt probably bought this painting in the 1880s; he knew Whistler by 1887, and certainly owned it before the early Spring of 1891 when Whistler mentioned the possibility of exhibiting it. 1 Some time later Whistler wrote to Goldschmidt:

'By the way I am so glad you have that "Nocturne". You know that its value now is certainly from 800 to a thousand guineas! - and it will only increase in worth - and you bought it from sympathy and liking when things were not so!' 2

Although it was not shown, it appears on one of Whistler's lists for his Goupil Gallery exhibition in 1892, where it is described as 'Nocturne Grey & Gold. Battersea.' 3

Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919) of Detroit saw 'Nocturne Westminster' in Goldschmidt's house in Paris some time in 1904/1905 and thought it 'very fine.' 4

'Nocturne' was recorded as sold by 'Mme Goldschmidt' on 9 November 1913 to Knoedler, New York dealers. It had been assumed that the painting was bequeathed by Otto Goldschmidt to his widow, but his wife, Jenny Lind, pre-deceased him. Their children were Walter Otto (b. 1853), Jenny Maria Catherine (Mrs Maude, 1857-1935) and Ernst Svend David (1861-1947). Walter Otto Goldschmidt married Mary Julia Daniels in 1884 (divorced in 1893), and Agnes Gilchrist Dunn in 1918; he probably died in 1929. Ernst Svend David Goldschmidt (1861-1947) married Helen Wallace (Mrs E. S. D. Goldschmidt) (ca 1874-1947) in 1911: so she could have been the 'Mrs Goldschmidt' living in 1913.

However, Otto Goldschmidt senior also had a brother Enrique Goldschmidt (fl. 1891) who was working in Berlin in 1891, and occasionally handled Whistler's works for his brother. 5 There may well have been another Mrs, Madame or Frau Goldschmidt.

Yet another painting, Grey and Green: A River [YMSM 295] was supposedly sold by Mrs B. M. Goldschmidt (fl. 1913) to Knoedler's in the same year, 2013, and although she has not been identified, she may have also sold Nocturne [YMSM 153].

Exhibitions

• 1888/1891: Possibly III. Internationale Kunst-Ausstellung, Königlicher Glaspalast, Munich, 1888 or IV. Internationale Kunst-Ausstellung (Jahresausstellung der Künstler-Genossenschaft), Königlicher Glaspalast, Munich, 1889 or Jahresausstellung der Künstler-Genossenschaft, Munich, 1891 or VI. Internationale Kunst-Ausstellung, Königlicher Glaspalast, Munich, 1892.

A letter from the Frick Art Reference Library states that Mrs Harriman bought a Nocturne from 'Mrs Goldschmidt', and also states that the 'Goldschmidts' told Mrs Harriman that their Nocturne had been exhibited in Munich about 1888. 6

According to Otto Goldschmidt, his nocturne was 'a harmony of black and gold' exhibited in Munich and compared by Richard Muther (1860-1909) to a scene he witnessed from a steamer on the way to England. 7 The original passage by Muther reads:

'Das ruhige, dunkel Wasser, über das der Dampfer in regelmässigen Stossen glitt, verschmolz mit dem Blau des Himmels ... Da plötzlich rechts flammt zuckend das Licht eines Leuchtthurms ... Weiter hinten ein andere, feineres, dann noch eines, andere und wieder andere, ein ganze Allee von Lichtern – jedes von grossem blauen Dunstkreis umgeben. Und ganz hinten das Lichtermeer der fernen Stadt ... Und blickt man tiefer, so spiegelte sich im Wasser Alles noch einmal in tausend goldenen und silbernen Reflexen.' 8

Translation: 'The calm, dark water, over which the steamer glided in regular puffs, merged with the blue of the sky ... suddenly the light flickers to the right of a lighthouse ... Further on, another, smaller one, then another, others and again others, a whole avenue of lights – each surrounded by a blue haze. And at the very back, the sea of ​​lights of the distant city ... And if you look deeper, everything in the water is reflected once more in a thousand golden and silver reflections.'

Muther's description matches this painting in some points, though it interprets it as a coastline and lighthouse, rather than a Thames scene. However, it has not so far been possible to identify the painting with pictures known to have been exhibited in Munich.