Brun et or: De race dates from the late 1890s, between 1896 and 1900. 1

Brun et or: De race, The Hunterian

It is dated from the technique and from its relationship to another portrait of the same sitter, The Boy in a Cloak [YMSM 512], as well as to portraits of the model's brother and sister, The Little Faustina [YMSM 510] and Vert et or: Le Raconteur [YMSM 513].

Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919) of Detroit recorded seeing a portrait of a 'little boy with fine eyes' in Whistler's studio in 1903 and thought it was intended for George Washington Vanderbilt (1862-1914). 2