Provenance

• 1903: in Whistler’s studio at his death and bequeathed to his ward and executrix, Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958);
• 1935: given by Miss Birnie Philip to the University of Glasgow.

Exhibitions

• 1905: Œuvres de James McNeill Whistler, Palais de l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1905 (cat. no. 40) as ‘Dorothy Seton. A Daughter of Eve’.

It was not exhibited in Whistler's lifetime. It was, however, lent to an exhibition by Miss Birnie Philip in 1915, when a newspaper commented:

' "A Daughter of Eve" is indeed one of the very best paintings done ... in a couple of morning hours from the red-haired Irish model in whom he found a likeness to Hogarth's "Shrimp Girl." Whether as the result of later, less inspired retouching, the painting has, however, nothing of the gaiety and freshness one looks for.' 1

By the terms of Miss Birnie Philip's gift to the University of Glasgow, it is not lendable.