Provenance

• 1880: sold at Whistler's bankruptcy sale, Sotheby's, London, 12-13 February 1880 (lot 82) described 'perhaps erroneously' as 'Sarah Bernhardt, seated, holding a book', and bought by Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) for 5 gns;
• 1895: probably one of two 'crayon full length figures' sold with Sketch of a Lady [M.1430] at the Wilde sale, by Bullock, London, 24 April 1895 (lot 123) and bought by David Croal Thomson (1855-1930), London dealer, for Whistler;
• 1895: on 21 September Whistler offered it to The Fine Art Society for 25-30 gns but they asked him to reduce the price, and it remained unsold;
• 1903: in Whistler's studio at his death and bequeathed to his sister-in-law and executrix, Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958) ;
• 1935: given by Miss Birnie Philip to the University of Glasgow.

Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) , who bought this drawing in 1880, asked Sara Bernhardt (1844-1923) to sign it, which she did, on the glass. Wilde wrote from Reading Jail to Alfred Douglas in 1897, regretting that he had been forced to sell this drawing. 1 Whistler did not bid for the other drawings attributed to him in Wilde's 1895 sale (lots 1429-30 ), nor in the second 'crayon' full length figure, which has not been identified nor catalogued separately.

Whistler bought the one drawing through Thomson, describing it as 'a little brown paper drawing that curiously enough I believe he bought at the sale of the White House ... one of the scrapings of the studio as usual - but I daresay pretty - I think Mrs Whistler would like to have it.' 2 Thomson therefore bought it on Whistler's behalf for 15 gns, and Beatrice Philip (Mrs E. W. Godwin, Mrs J. McN. Whistler) (1857-1896) wrote thanking him. 3 But a few months later, Mrs Whistler was seriously ill and they were short of money, so the artist offered r.: Maud Franklin; v.: Study of Maud Franklin [M.0693] to The Fine Art Society for 25-30 gns. Ernest George Brown (1851-1915) of the F.A.S. agreed to try and sell it but asked Whistler to reduce the price from the 35 gns asked. 4 In the end, it did not sell, and Whistler retained the drawing.

Further details are given in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 693).

Exhibitions

• 1879: possibly III Summer Exhibition, Grosvenor Gallery, London, 1879 (cat. no. 273 or 274) 'Study in Chalk'.

By the terms of Miss Birnie Philip's gift, this cannot be lent to another venue.