Provenance

• 1898: commissioned by George Washington Vanderbilt (1862-1914), Biltmore, NC;
• 1902: completed and sent to Vanderbilt;
• 1914: bequeathed by Vanderbilt to the sitter, his widow, Edith Stuyvesant Vanderbilt (1873-1958) (later Mrs Edith Stuyvesant Gerry);
• 1958: on her death, 21 December 1958, it passed to a private collection;
• By 2014: on exhibition in Biltmore, NC.

Exhibitions

• 1902: Douzième Exposition, Ouvrages de Peintures, Sculpture, Dessin, Gravure, Architecture et Objets d'Art, Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Grand Palais, Paris, 1902 (cat. no. 1193) as 'Ivoire et or: Portrait de Madame V . . . '
• 1905: Œuvres de James McNeill Whistler, Palais de l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1905 (cat. no. 33) as 'Ivoire et or: Portrait de Madame V . . . '

Panel of five paintings, GUL MS Whistler NB 2/120-121e

Whistler was displeased because the Hanging Committee at the Salon did not consult him on the arrangement of his group of pictures. A sketch, Panel of five paintings [M.1706] indicates the preferred hang: Violet and Silver: The Great Sea [YMSM 298], Ivoire et or: Portrait de Madame Vanderbilt [YMSM 515], Purple and Gold: Phryne the Superb! - Builder of Temples [YMSM 490], Grenat et or: Le Petit Cardinal [YMSM 469] and Gold and Orange: The Neighbours [YMSM 423]. 1 The exhibition opened on 21 April 1902, and it appears Whistler was worried because the portrait of Mrs Vanderbilt was 'skied' and also showed some finger-marks, but on the other hand, he was not concerned about the subdued lighting criticised by some visitors to the show. 2