Provenance

• By 1905: owned by the Baroness de Meyer, Olga Alberta Caracciolo (1871–1930/1931).
• 1932: bequeathed by Annie Swann (Mrs Lewis Larned Coburn) (1886-1932), Chicago, to Walter Stanton Brewster (1872-1954), Chicago;
• 1933: given by W. S. Brewster to the Art Institute of Chicago.

The provenance is unknown before it was lent by the Baroness de Meyer to the 1905 Memorial Exhibition in London (cat. no. 8) as 'Study of a Girl's Head and Shoulders'.

It is not known when it went to America, but it was later owned by Annie Swan (Mrs Lewis Larned Coburn) of Chicago, a collector of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist works. It was bequeathed by her on 30 May 1932 to Walter Stanton Brewster, who was also a notable collector. 1 He gave his entire collection of Whistleriana, including this painting, to the Art Institute of Chicago, of which he was a trustee. 2 The painting was housed permanently in the Institute from 1948.

Exhibitions

• 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. 8) as 'Study of a Girl's Head and Shoulders'.

There is no known record of an exhibition in Whistler's lifetime.