Provenance

• 1888: bought through H. Graves & Co., London, by Messrs Dowdeswell, London art dealers;
• 1888: sold by them to Elbert Jan van Wisselingh (1848-1912), art dealer, The Hague;
• 1889: sold by him to Reinhard Boelens, Baron van Lynden (1827-1896);
• 1896: passed on van Lynden's death on 25 February 1896 to his widow, Maria Catharina Barones van Lynden (née Pallandt), Baroness van Lynden (1834-1905), The Hague;
• 1900: given by her to the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

It is not known what happened to Arrangement in Yellow and Grey: Effie Deans [YMSM 183] at the time of Whistler's bankruptcy in 1879, but it was probably deposited with the London printsellers H. Graves & Co., with Arrangement in Black and Brown: The Fur Jacket [YMSM 181], as security for a loan. On 19 March 1888 Algernon Graves (1845-1922) wrote to Whistler that he had a possible buyer for these two paintings. 1 The potential buyers may have been Messrs Dowdeswell, who put Arrangement in Yellow and Grey: Effie Deans on exhibition in July 1888. 2 According to Walter Dowdeswell (1858-1929) they bought the painting from Graves on 26 October 1888 and sold it immediately to Van Wisselingh in Holland. 3

After being exhibited in Amsterdam, Arrangement in Yellow and Grey: Effie Deans was sold by Van Wisselingh to Reinhard, Baron van Lynden, who wrote to Whistler in April 1889:

'Some time ago I had the pleasure of buying a picture of yours from Messrs Dowdeswell called "Effie Deans" I liked it very much and no doubt my liking it so much helped me in the sale of it. My client, Baron van Lynden is delighted with his / purchase and the picture has grown on him as I knew it would, as one has only to live with a work of this kind to become attached to it.' 4

His widow gave the painting to the Rijksmuseum. It is not entirely clear if Whistler saw it there, though his sister-in-law Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958) certainly did, for she wrote:

'In the National Gallery at Amsterdam there is a full length of Mr Whistler's. ... It was beautifully hung & looked as if it had always belonged there.

The Director of the Museum came to meet us & was most enthusiastic and hoped that the Master himself would come to see his work.' 5

Exhibitions

• 1886: International Exhibition, Edinburgh, 1886 (cat. no. 1412) as 'Effie Deans'.
• 1889: Tentoonstelling van Kunstwerken van Levende Meesters, Amsterdam, 1889 (470) as 'Effie Deans'.

In Edinburgh the painting was 'skied' (hung high up), according to the art critic 'Megilp'. 6

It was also exhibited by Messrs Dowdeswell in London in July 1888, according to the New York Tribune. 7 In Amsterdam in the following year, Whistler's exhibits were awarded a gold medal, and the owner congratulated Whistler for the 'deserved distinction.' 8