Provenance

• By 1905: owned by Sir William Eden (1849-1915);
• 1912: sold through Colnaghi, London art dealers, at auction, Christie's, London, 30 March 1912 (lot 66) and bought by 'Kinmell'.
• Date unknown: at some time with Agnew's, London art dealers.
• By 1940: owned by the archaeologist Dr Louis Colville Gray Clarke (1881-1960);
• 1960: bequeathed to the Fitzwilliam Museum.

There are some gaps in the provenance.

Exhibitions

• 1874: possibly Mr Whistler's Exhibition, Flemish Gallery, 48 Pall Mall, London, 1874 (cat. no. unknown).
• 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. 49) as 'Sea Beach and Figures.'

The Art Journal described, among exhibits in 1874, 'a few coloured designs for large pictures .. figures on the seashore'. 1