Provenance

• 1882 or after: according to the Art Journal, 'a sepia drawing [sic] of Old Battersea Bridge' was given by Whistler to'Walter McNay'; 1
• 1903: sold at auction, Christie's, London, 23 November 1903 (lot 141) and bought by Obach, London dealers, 32 gns.
• 1904: acquired by Frederick Keppel (1845-1912) , New York art dealer.
• Date unknown: acquired by Henry Harper Benedict (1844-1935);
• 1935: bequeathed to his widow, Katherine Geddes Benedict (1879-1961) , and daughter, Josephine Katherine Benedict, Mrs James Douglass Sharpe (ca 1918-1946) ;
• 1962: sold at auction, London, Sotheby, 21 November 1962 (lot 7, repr.) and bought by Weitzner for Agnew, London dealers (#J2913);
• 1963: sold on 9 August to Milton McGreevy (1903-1980), Kansas City;
• 1963: given by Milton McGreevy and his wife, Barbara McGreevy née James (1905-1996), through the Mission Fund, to the Nelson-Atkins Museum.

'Walter McNay' may have been Walter Lawrie MacNay (1866-1946), of the London Etching Co., son of Thomas Fothergill McNay (1836-1907) and Mary Isabella Cooke (Mrs T. F. McNay) (m. 1865) (1840-1906). His sister Eleanor ('Nora') Ruth McNay (1868-1886) was sketched by Whistler shortly before her death (see Portrait of Miss Nora McNay [YMSM 348]) and it is possible that this watercolour was given to the McNays around that time.

For further details see MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 874).

Exhibitions

• 1904: Etchings, Dry-Points, and a Few Drawings by Whistler, Frederick Keppel & Co., New York, 1904 (cat. no. 107) as 'Putney Bridge'.