Provenance

• 1893: possibly among 'unfinished' Venice drawings, 'The property of a collector', sold at auction, Sotheby's, London, 23 January 1893 (lots 113-130);
• 1893: several of these drawings passed through Dowdeswell, London dealers, to Henry Studdy Theobald (1847-1934) of Lincoln's Inn, London;
• 1902: 'Doorway' was bought from Theobald by Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919), Detroit;
• 1919: bequeathed to the Freer Gallery of Art.

Further details are given in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 727).

Exhibitions

• 1881: Venice Pastels, Fine Art Society, London, 1881 (cat no. 32) 'The Beggars – Winter'.
• 1905: Œuvres de James McNeill Whistler, Palais de l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1905 (cat. no. 167) as 'Doorway'.

It was described in the Daily Telegraph as 'a sketch in which the smallest colouring relieves the black and grey.' 1

By the terms of Freer's will, this cannot be lent to another venue.