Provenance

• Before 1891: possibly owned by Joshua Hutchinson Hutchinson (b. ca 1829-d.1891) .
• Date unknown: possibly with Messrs Dowdeswell, London dealers (label);
• 1937: sold by Maggs, London dealers, 1937 (lot 123);
• 1937: possibly bought by Castano, Boston dealers;
• Date unknown: bought by Steven Juvelis (1921-1994) , Lynn, MA;
• 1962: sold at auction, Christie's, London, 22 June 1962 (lot 8) and bought by 'Young'.
• By 1984: acquired by a private collector;
• 2008: bequeathed by Joseph F. McCrindle (1923-2008) to the Joseph F. McCrindle Foundation;
• 2009: given to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.

The early provenance is based on the account given by Juvelis in 1962: it is not absolutely certain that the drawing was owned by Joshua Hutchinson Hutchinson (b. ca 1829-d.1891) or by Messrs Dowdeswell.

Further details are given in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1688). This entry has been revised.

NOTE: a drawing that may have been similar to this was sold at auction, H. C. Green sale, Sotheby's, London, 16 April 1962 (lot 177) as 'A curtained door, brown wash drawn with the brush, signed with the butterfly, unframed 7 in. by 4 1/2 in'. Nothing more is known, so it has not been catalogued separately.

Exhibitions

None in Whistler's lifetime.