Provenance

• 1902: bought from the Company of the Butterfly by Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919) , Detroit, for £78.15.0;
• 1919: bequeathed by Freer to the Freer Gallery of Art.

Exhibitions

• 1884: 'Notes' - 'Harmonies' - 'Nocturnes', Messrs Dowdeswell, London, 1884 (cat. no. 5) as 'Grey and silver – Purfleet'.
• 1884: Annual Exhibition of Sketches, Pictures & Photography: A Loan Collection of Pictures by Mr Whistler ..., Dublin Sketching Club, Dublin, 1884 (cat. no. 256).
• 1888: III. Internationale Kunst-Ausstellung, Königlicher Glaspalast, Munich, 1888 (cat. no. 27).
• 1889: “Notes” – “Harmonies” – “Nocturnes”, H. Wunderlich & Co., New York, 1889 (cat. no. 5) as 'Grey and Silver – Purflect [sic]'
• 1904: Oil Paintings, Water Colors, Pastels and Drawings: Memorial Exhibition of the Works of Mr. J. McNeill Whistler, Copley Society, Boston, 1904 (cat. no. 86) as 'The Thames near Erith'.

It was priced at 30 guineas in 1889, but remained unsold, and was returned after the exhibition by Wunderlich's on the SS Servia. 1

Due to the specifications of Freer's will, this work cannot be lent to other venues.