Provenance

• 1880s: given in exchange for A Girl by a Shelf [YMSM 048] to Aglaia Coronio (1834-1906) , London;
• 1889: returned to Whistler;
• 1897: bought by Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919) , Detroit;
• 1919: bequeathed by C. L. Freer to the Freer Gallery of Art.

On 15 August 1882 Whistler offered it to the Glasgow dealer John Craibe Angus (1861-1910) for 130 guineas and suggested selling it for considerably more:

'[I]f you seriously think that you would have a sale for the "Southampton Water". nocturne which was in the Grosvenor, I might send you that. - You might ask 200 guineas for it as usual: but if you buy it yourself right out, - you may have it for 130.' 1

According to T. R. Way, Whistler gave 'Southampton Water' to Aglaia Coronio (sister of Luke Ionides) in exchange for A Girl by a Shelf [YMSM 048], but she did not like it:

'Whistler sent them the "Southampton Water". They said they did not care for it, it was so dark they could not see its beauties. His reply was that he "could not supply them with eyes to see with," and eventually he repaid the sum which he had originally received.' 2

On 2 June 1889 Whistler wrote to Mme Coronio offering to replace the 'dark Nocturne' with 'another Thames picture or landscape of any kind', and she accepted Grey and Silver: Old Battersea Reach [YMSM 046]. 3

A label from the London art firm of Goupil, on the back of the painting, suggests that Whistler tried to sell it through that firm in London. It is possible that it was one of the Nocturnes that D. C. Thomson of Goupil's was trying to sell in August 1891, and was exhibited by Goupil's in the following year, still with no owner named. 4

However, in 1896, it was bought by C. L. Freer, who wrote from Detroit in December 1896, 'I beg you to let me know by return mail how much I may be permitted to remit you in payment for the beautiful Nocturne - a great treasure!!' 5 Whistler sold 'Nocturne Southampton' to Freer in July 1897 for 600 guineas, and Freer wrote, 'delighted to enclose herewith draft on London, for six hundred guineas, payable to your order, in partial payment for the Nocturne "Southampton". I say partial payment because money cannot do more in connection with such a great work of art.' 6

Exhibitions

• 1876: Possibly 12th Exhibition, Society of French Artists, Deschamps Gallery, London, 1876 (cat. no. 150) as 'Nocturne, in Black and gold'.
• 1882: VI Summer Exhibition, Grosvenor Gallery, London, 1882 (cat. no. 106) as 'Nocturne in Black and Gold. Entrance to Southampton water'.
• 1892: Probably Nocturnes, Marines & Chevalet Pieces, Goupil Gallery, London, 1892 (cat. no. 32) as 'Nocturne. Black and Gold'.
• 1897: Second Annual Exhibition, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, 1897 (cat. no. 237) as 'Southampton harbour'.
• 1901: Pan-American Exposition, Buffalo, 1901 (cat. no. 101) as 'Southampton – Nocturne'.

The painting exhibited in 1876 has not been identified with certainty, and so has been catalogued separately as Nocturne in Black and Gold [YMSM 167].

The description in The Athenaeum in 1882 gives some idea of the original appearance of the painting exhibited at that time:

'It is a mystery, the charm and fidelity of which we acknowledge, composed of the darkest grey and dusky olive tints, among which a beacon lamp rises on a pole above a space of apparently irresolvable gloom, but which may be a cottage or a light vessel. Subtly graded gleaming bars and long lines of golden dots in the distance attest the existence of Southampton Water and the town lights.' 7

Several newspapers were less flattering, including the Bradford Observer, which, on 1 May 1892, described it as 'being in reality a flat mass of blue-black colour with a dab or two of light thrown in'.

It appears to have been exhibited in the Whistler retrospective at Goupil's in 1892. D. C. Thomson told Beatrice Philip (Mrs E. W. Godwin, Mrs J. McN. Whistler) (1857-1896): 'The Lady Meux is on the other end wall, with the Venice & Madame Coronios Nocturne on each side.' 8 In fact Mme Coronio had returned the Nocturne to Whistler, and no owner was named in the catalogue. The painting was indeed available for sale, and a Goupil label on the back of the painting confirms that Whistler tried to sell it through that firm.

By the terms of C. L. Freer's bequest to the Freer Gallery of Art, the painting cannot be lent to another venue.