Provenance

• 1907: sold by Alexander Reid (1854-1928), Glasgow art dealer to James Gardner Shepherd (1867-1935), Scranton, Pa.

The early provenance is not known for certain.

'Street in Brittany' was sold by Reid with Chelsea Shop [YMSM 374] to J. G. Shepherd in December 1907 for £750. 1 It is not known what happened to this painting after 1907, nor after Shepherd's death in 1935.

Exhibitions

• 1894: Possibly 64th Annual Exhibition, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, 1894 (cat. no. 323) as 'Brittany'.
• 1895: Possibly A Collection of Paintings representing The Glasgow School, Artists of Denmark and Some Others, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, 1895 (cat. no. 165) as 'Brittany'.

There is no certain record of this picture having been exhibited but it is possible that it could be the same as another work owned in the 1890s by the Glasgow art dealer Alexander Reid. He lent 'Brittany' to exhibitions in Philadelphia and Chicago; however, it was listed in the catalogue as a pastel and described by The Critic, 30 November 1895, as 'delicate and exquisite in colour', which is not sufficient to identify it. Accordingly it has been catalogued as a pastel, Brittany [M.1369]. It was probably a figure subject like the other works exhibited. There are no known land- or seascape pastels of Brittany by Whistler, though there are several watercolours, such as A Brittany shop with shuttered windows [M.1365].