Street in Brittany may date from Whistler's visits to Brittany in September 1888 or August 1893, or some time between these dates. 1

Known Brittany subjects by Whistler include Violet and Blue: The Little Bathers, Pérosquérié [YMSM 382] and The Bathing Posts, Brittany [YMSM 409] but no street scenes have been identified for this period.

The later date – 1893 – indicates that it may have been the unidentified work called 'Brittany' lent by the Glasgow art dealer Alexander Reid (1854-1928) to the 64th Annual Exhibition, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, 1894 (cat. no. 323).

Reid is recorded as selling a painting called Street in Brittany in 1907 (if the dates provided by his son are correct) but this does seem rather a long time for him to have held on to the work. It is not certain that the work exhibited in 1894 and that sold in 1907 are one and the same.