Provenance

• Before 1905: possibly bought from a private collection in France by Robert Dunthorne (1850-1925), London art dealer.
• 1905: with Messrs Dowdeswell, London art dealers;
• Date unknown: sold by Dowdeswell's to Knoedler's, New York art dealers;
• Date unknown: sold by Knoedler's to Henry Harper Benedict (1844-1935), New York;
• 1935: bequeathed to his widow, Katherine Geddes Benedict (1879-1961);
• 1962: after her death, sold at auction, Sotheby, London, 21 November 1962 (lot 15) as 'Girl in Black', and bought in by Robert L. Graham (fl. 1862) at £2600;
• 1962: bought by Joseph Herman Hirshhorn (1899-1981), New York, NY, and Greenwich, CT;
• 1966: given to the Hirschhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.

The early owners of this painting have not been identified. It was lent by 'Monsieur X' to the Memorial Exhibition of the Works of the late James McNeill Whistler, First President of The International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers, New Gallery, Regent Street, London, 1905 (cat. no. 6). According to Museum records, it passed from a private collection in France to the London art dealer Robert Dunthorne (1850-1925). However, according to Singer, it was with Dowdeswell's in London in 1905. 1 According to Museum records, it passed from Dowdeswell's to Knoedler's, New York, and from them to H. H. Benedict, after which the provenance is clear.

Exhibitions

• 1905: Memorial Exhibition of the Works of the late James McNeill Whistler, First President of The International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers, New Gallery, Regent Street, London, 1905 (cat. no. 6) as 'Girl in Black'.

It was not exhibited in Whistler's lifetime.