Provenance

• By 1892: owned by Thomas Glen Arthur (1858-1907), Glasgow.
• 1904: bought from Alexander Reid (1854-1928), Glasgow art dealer, by Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919);
• 1919: bequeathed to the Freer Gallery of Art.

Details are given in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1232).

Exhibitions

• 1892: 31st Exhibition of Works of Modern Artists, Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts, Glasgow, 1892 (cat. no. 693) as 'The Birth of Venus'.
• 1905: Œuvres de James McNeill Whistler, Palais de l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1905 (cat. no. 132) as 'Vénus Astarté'.

Reviews of the 1892 exhibition appeared in the Glasgow Evening Times on 29 January 1892 and the Dundee Advertiser on the following day. The latter considered Whistler's exhibits 'beautiful' and 'full of the refinement which distinguishes the best work of this much-criticized artist.'

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