Sketch for 'Nocturne in Blue and Gold: Valparaiso Bay' dates from 1866. 1

Sketch for 'Nocturne in Blue and Gold: Valparaiso Bay', National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution

Whistler spent six months in Chile in 1866 at the time of a brief confrontation between Chile and Spain. 2 According to Whistler's diary for the trip to South America, he left Southampton on 2 February 1866 and arrived in Valparaiso on 12 March, where he remained, except for occasional visits to Santiago and the surrounding countryside, until sailing for England early in September 1866. 3