Provenance

• 1901: possibly sold by the Company of the Butterfly to or through William Heinemann (1863-1920).
• By 1904: Henry Harper Benedict (1844-1935), New York;
• 1935: passed to his widow, Katherine Geddes Benedict (1879-1961);
• 1962: sold at auction, Sotheby's, London, 21 November 1962 (14) as 'On the Normandy Coast' and bought by Julius H. Weitzner (1896-1986), London art dealer, for £1100.
• 1965: with Knoedler, New York art dealers;
• 1968: sold by Knoedler's to Thomas Mellon Evans (1910-1997), New York;
• 1998: sold at auction, Christie's, New York, 21 May 1998, sale 8886 (lot 23) for $310,500.

'Robin Hood's Bay (Blue & Gold)' was listed by Whistler's sister-in-law, Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958), among paintings received from Hinde Street on the closure of the 'Company of the Butterfly' in 1901 (while Whistler was away in Corsica) and was sent to William Heinemann (1863-1920), the London publisher, on 19 February 190l. 1 It is not known if he actually owned it or acted as intermediary in selling it, or what. It may have been one of the pictures referred to by Whistler in a letter to Heinemann in February 1901, 'It was very nice of you to see to all that about the little marines with Fox for me.' 2 Fox may have been Samuel M. Fox (fl. 1886-1920), sculptor; a letter from Whistler indicates that Fox had been interested in buying work by Whistler but found the price too high. 3

The current whereabouts (2019) are unknown although it is assumed to be in a private collection.

Exhibitions

• 1904: Oil Paintings, Water Colors, Pastels and Drawings: Memorial Exhibition of the Works of Mr. J. McNeill Whistler, Copley Society, Boston, 1904 (cat. no. 7) as 'On the Normandy Coast'.

It was not, as far as is known, exhibited in Whistler's lifetime.