Provenance

• 1896: sold by the artist to H. Wunderlich & Co., New York art dealers;
• 1896: sold by Wunderlich's to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

According to Wunderlich, Whistler agreed with their representative, E. G. Kennedy, to sell them this painting and The Master Smith of Lyme Regis [YMSM 450] as well as Rose et or: La Tulipe [YMSM 418] or Harmony in Black: Portrait of Miss Ethel Philip [YMSM 419] for £1500. 1

The Little Rose of Lyme Regis was sold by the Wunderlich Galleries to the Museum of Fine Arts, together with The Master Smith of Lyme Regis [YMSM 450], for $7,200 (Accession Date: 11 January 1896). Edward Guthrie Kennedy (1849-1932) of Wunderlich's, who arranged the sale, was gently reprimanded for not having told Whistler. 2

Exhibitions

• 1904: Oil Paintings, Water Colors, Pastels and Drawings: Memorial Exhibition of the Works of Mr. J. McNeill Whistler, Copley Society, Boston, 1904 (cat. no. 43) as 'The Little Rose of Lyme Regis'.
• 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. 26) as 'The Little Rose of Lyme Regis'.
• 1905: Œuvres de James McNeill Whistler, Palais de l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1905 (cat. no. 42) as 'The Little Rose of Lyme Regis'.