Provenance

• Before 1872: given by the artist to Frances Leyland (1834-1910) , London and Liverpool;
• 1910: passed to the Estate of Mrs Leyland.
• 1921/1937: acquired at some time by Hunt Henderson (1869-1939) , New Orleans;
• 1939: bequeathed to Tulane University, New Orleans;
• 1941: sold by Tulane through the Macdonald Gallery, New York, to Grenville Lindell Winthrop (1864-1943) , New York, April 1941;
• 1943: bequeathed by Winthrop to Harvard University.

It was presented by Whistler to Mrs Leyland at some time between 1871 and 1872, and was certainly at Speke Hall, near Liverpool, by November 1872. 1 Some notes and affidavits at the time of the Whistler v. Ruskin trial stress that it was a gift, and was not for sale in the Grosvenor Gallery exhibition of 1877, where Whistler's exhibits were targeted by John Ruskin (1819-1900). 2

A note by Whistler's attorney regarding the 1877 exhibition of this painting at the Grosvenor Gallery, and made in preparation for the Whistler v. Ruskin trial in 1878, states that it 'Belongs to Mrs Leyland 49 Princes Gate Hyde Park' and, in another note, that it is 'in the poss[essi] of Mrs Leyland 44 Princes Gate Hyde Park.' 3 However, they appear to have decided not to mention Mrs Leyland at the trial. A statement intended to be sent to Ruskin's solicitors (but not necessarily sent) stated that 'Nocturne in Blue and Silver ... Is the property and in the hands of Mr Leyland who purchased it from Mr Whistler at the price of 200 guineas.' 4 It is just possible that this was said to justify the price asked for the painting under contention in the trial, Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket [YMSM 170]. If so, this was corrected in other statements.

In court the owner was named as Frances's husband, Frederick Richards Leyland (1832-1892). Whistler stated that the painting had been 'presented to Mr Leyland (blue & silver)', and he explained the meaning of the word 'Nocturne' as 'An Arrangement of line form and color.' 5 A transcript of the statements of witnesses on Whistler's behalf included references to this Nocturne in Blue and Silver. William Michael Rossetti (1829-1919), examined by John Humffrey Parry (1824-1880), stated, 'I consider Mr Leyland's picture a very artistic & beautiful representation of the pale blue moonlight', and William Gorman Wills (1828-1891) affirmed:

'I have seen the two blue & silver, I thought there was a considerable charm about them - a great knowledge of art - I saw than at the exhibition in 1877 - nature, age, & feeling for color … I believe them to be the work of a man of art and a genius.' 6

The painting was in Mrs Leyland's hands after her husband's death, and probably until her death in 1910: in 1921 the Pennells recorded it as in her estate. 7 It not known when it was sold, but it was definitely in the Henderson family by 1937, when it was shown in the Loan Exhibition of Paintings and Prints by James McNeill Whistler, courtesy of the Henderson Family of New Orleans, Louisiana State University Museum of Art, Baton Rouge.

Exhibitions

• 1872/1876: Possibly exhibited in [Exposition], Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris, 1873 or Mr Whistler's Exhibition, Flemish Gallery, 48 Pall Mall, London, 1874.
• 1877: I Summer Exhibition, Grosvenor Gallery, London, 1877 (cat. no. 5) as 'Nocturne in Blue and Silver'.
• 1892: Nocturnes, Marines & Chevalet Pieces, Goupil Gallery, London, 1892 (cat. no. 9) as 'Nocturne. Blue and Silver'.

1872/1876: In November 1872, Whistler asked Frederick Richards Leyland (1832-1892) if he could send the 'Nocturne', which was then at Speke Hall, to him in London, and at the same time thanked Leyland for suggesting the title 'nocturne':

'I want much to borrow Mrs. Leylands little "Nocturne." She says that she has no objection - so if you would kindly let John pack it in the case I took it to Speke in, and send it to me I should be very much obliged - with apologies for the trouble -

I say I can't thank you too much for the name "Nocturne" as a title for my moonlights! You have no idea what an irritation it proves to the critics and consequent pleasure to me - besides it is really so charming and does so poetically say all I want to say and no more than I wish! The pictures at the Dudley are a great success - The Nocturne in blue and silver is one you dont know at all.' 8

It is possible that Whistler wanted it for an exhibition in London or Paris at that time or early in 1873, but if so, it has not been identified with certainty.

Notes made by Whistler's attorney in preparation for the Whistler v. Ruskin trial show a certain amount of uncertainty about the exhibition history of this painting before it was exhibited in 1877. One such note reads '… believe[d] to have been exhibited at No [blank] Piccadilly & at Dudley Gallery', while a more specific affidavit states that it was 'at no. 48 Pall Mall in Piccadilly in 1874' and 'exhibited by me at the Dudley Gallery in 1876'. 9

1877-1878: When it was shown at the Grosvenor Gallery in 1877, The Scotsman art critic, while rather dismissive of the portraits shown by Whistler, admired the nocturnes:

'Familiar, but none the less welcome, are J. Whistler's studies of colour and tone – nocturnes as he pleases to call them – in black and gold or blue and silver. Let not the oddity of the titles blind anyone to the charm of that luminous evening effect in which the whole field of view is occupied with delicate gradations of blue, or that still more impressive twilight over a vista of broad river, with lights glimmering here and there along the banks. More liable to be misunderstood are three portrait subjects which, we presume, can only be appreciated when viewed, in accordance with the suggestion of their titles, as exercises in chromatics.' 10

A particularly appreciative review was written by William Michael Rossetti (1829-1919):

'The Nocturne in Blue and Silver … ranks among the loveliest works of the painter's works of this class. The time appears to be earliest morning – the locality, the river as seen from Chelsea: a great reach and surface of water as conveyed to the eye by a sort of artistic divination, a curious power of intuition and suggestion working through means equally simple and subtle: right in front come a few flecked leaves of a shrub, which even a Japanese artist, unapproachable in such suddennesses of perfection, might be willing to acknowledge.' 11

The painting was presented in court as evidence in the trial for libel which Whistler brought against John Ruskin in November 1878. 12 According to the Pennells, Mrs Leyland 'was furious because it was taken into court without the frame.' 13

1892: For the entry in his Goupil catalogue, Whistler quoted an old review from Society, 'It seems to us a pity that an artist of Mr. Whistler's known ability should exhibit such an extraordinary collection of pictile nightmares.' He followed this with an excerpt from the interrogation of Edward Coley Burne-Jones (1833-1898) at the Whistler v. Ruskin trial of 1878, referring to the price of Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket [YMSM 170]. Burne Jones had said that he considered The Falling Rocket a 'work of art' but the price too high, 'when you think of the amount of earnest work done for a smaller sum.' 14

After the retrospective exhibition, Nocturne in Blue and Silver [YMSM 113] was selected for inclusion in the Goupil Album of photographs, but Whistler was not happy with the reproduction, 'Mrs Leylands Nocturne - might be clearer … perhaps you had better borrow the picture again - it is so very bright - The photograph gives no true rendering of it.' 15 However, this did not happen. Whistler also hoped to borrow the painting again, first, to exhibit in Paris, and then, in the World's Columbian Exhibition in Chicago, but it was not shown in either venue. 16