Provenance

• Date unknown: probably given to Whistler's brother William McNeill Whistler (1836-1900) ;
• 1900: bequeathed to his wife Helen ('Nellie') Euphrosyne Whistler (1849-1917) ;
• 1905: offered by Thomas Robert Way (1861-1913) on behalf of Helen Whistler to Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919) on 27 October;
• 1905: Freer bought this and two other drawings for £60.0.0 on 29 November;
• 1919: bequeathed to the Freer Gallery of Art.

The letters regarding Freer's purchase are in the Freer Gallery Archives.

Exhibitions

• 1903: Watercolours, Pastels, Drawings in Black and White, Sculptures and Bronzes By British and Foreign Artists Including A Selection of Works by H. B. Brabazon, and A Group of Works by the late James McNeill Whistler, W. Marchant & Co., Goupil Gallery, London, 1903 (cat. no. 87) as 'The School on Fire';
• 1905: Memorial Exhibition of the Works of the late James McNeill Whistler, First President of The International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers, New Gallery, Regent Street, London, 1905 (cat. no. 154) as 'School House on Fire'.

In his catalogue, William Stephen Marchant (1868-1925) described the scene depicted: 'While Mr Whistler was at School in Pomfret, U.S.A., a fire occurred, and the boys helped to put it out. Mr Whistler illustrated this incident shortly afterwards in the present drawing.'