Provenance

• 1885: commissioned by Sophia (Eustratius) Ionides (Mrs M. B. Manuel) (1853-1905), the wife of Miltiades Basil Manuel (1841-1907);
• 1905: on her death, passed to Stephen Manuel (1880-1954);
• 1908: bought from him by Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919), Detroit, in November 1908, for £800;
• 1919: bequeathed by C. L. Freer to the Freer Gallery of Art.

Exhibitions

• 1885: Winter Exhibition, Society of British Artists, London, 1885 (cat. no. 45) as 'Arrangement in Grey: Portrait of Master Stephen Manuel'.
• 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. 51) as 'Portrait of Master Stephen Manuel'' and, in deluxe edition, 'Arrangement in Grey, Portrait of Master Stephen Manuel'.

It was well received at the Society of British Artists, as Whistler told his sister-in-law, Helen ('Nellie') Euphrosyne Whistler (1849-1917):

'I should have supposed it might have occurred to Mrs Sophie or yourself to drive round one afternoon some day at dusk and say to me how pleased you all are at Steevies success! - He seems certainly to be the favourite in all papers - have n't you seen?' 1

The Illustrated London News praised the 'simple innocency' of the child, Truth commended it as a 'clever arrangement in grey', and the Globe raved about it: 'We are inclined to think that he has produced nothing more masterly in style than this – more beautiful in its gradations of colour or more complete.' 2

By the terms of C. L. Freer's bequest to the Freer Gallery of Art, the painting cannot now be lent to other venues.