Harmony in Pink and Red probably dates from the late 1870s, between 1876 and 1878. 1

Harmony in Pink and Red, photograph, S. P. Avery Collection, New York Public Library

Arrangement in Yellow and Grey: Effie Deans, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

The very free technique, with the 'sauce' of the background running down onto the dress, is close to that in Arrangement in Yellow and Grey: Effie Deans [YMSM 183] of about 1876.

Harmony in Flesh Colour and Black: Portrait of Mrs Louise Jopling, The Hunterian

In composition and costume Harmony in Pink and Red [YMSM 192] is very like Harmony in Flesh Colour and Black: Portrait of Mrs Louise Jopling [YMSM 191], which was painted in 1877/1878.

It is a full-length portrait of Maud Franklin (1857-1939) and her appearance corresponds closely to the lithotint of her called The Toilet c010, published in July 1878.

Photographs of the painting were signed by Whistler about 1878 and 1881. 2

According to the Pennells, it was destroyed by Whistler (possibly at the time of his bankruptcy in 1879). 3 However, the French artist Jacques Émile Blanche (1861-1942) said he saw a portrait of the sitter, Maud Franklin, 'en or roux' in Whistler's studio in 1884. 4 Blanche unfortunately is not entirely reliable in his dating.