Provenance

• 1885: bought from Messrs Dowdeswell by Henry Studdy Theobald (1847-1934);
• 1902: bought by Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919), Detroit;
• 1919: bequeathed by C. L. Freer to the Freer Gallery of Art.

It was exhibited in Whistler's one-man show 'Notes' - 'Harmonies' - 'Nocturnes', Messrs Dowdeswell, London, 1884 (cat. no. 6 or 45) and bought by H. S. Theobald in the following year. 1 He was almost certainly the collector described by Whistler as having bought several paintings after the exhibition, as he wrote to Walter Dowdeswell (1858-1929):

'I must know the whereabouts of every one of my little pictures -

You promised that you would give me the address of each one by referring to the catalogues -

Then again, you must arrange with the man who bought the lot that remained over after the exhibition of the "Flesh color & grey", to let his collection go with me to America.' 2

In June 1902, Whistler sent C. L. Freer a telegram ('Theobald paintings at Marchants') informing him that the paintings owned by Theobald were apparently for sale by William Marchant & Co. 3 As a result, it was bought by Freer in August 1902, for $750.

Exhibitions

• 1884: 'Notes' - 'Harmonies' - 'Nocturnes', Messrs Dowdeswell, London, 1884 (cat. no. 6) as 'Sea and Storm: Grey and Green' or (cat. no. 45) as 'Sands; blue note'.

The identity of the paintings exhibited at Dowdeswell's under these titles is uncertain: see Sea and Storm: Grey and Green [YMSM 283].

By the terms of C. L. Freer's bequest to the Freer Gallery of Art, the painting cannot be lent.