Provenance

• 1910: possibly sold by John Balli (1849-1914) , 2 Rue de berne, Paris, at auction, Christie's, London, 15 July 1910 (lot 32) as 'A Female Study' and bought by 'Draper'.
• 1910: said (by Sotheby's 1962) to have been owned by Henry Harper Benedict (1844-1935) ;
• 1935: passed to his widow Katherine Geddes Benedict (1879-1961) and daughter Josephine Katherine Benedict, Mrs James Douglass Sharpe (ca 1918-1946);
• 1962: sold at auction, Sotheby's, London, 21 November 1962 (lot 5) as 'A seated lady, a study', bought by Jeremy Stephen Maas (1928-1997), London art dealer;
• 1960s: possibly sold to 'Gerstein'.

The early provenance is unknown.

The correlation in size between A seated lady [M.0692] (9 1/2 x 6 5/8") and the drawing sold in 1910 (10 x 6") is not very close; in fact other drawings, such as Nude standing [M.0443] and Study of a seated girl [M.0697] are closer. However, it is possible that A seated lady [M.0692] has been trimmed, and the tradition that Benedict was buying his works in 1910 is strong and supports the identification.

Exhibitions

There is no record of an exhibition in Whistler's time.