Provenance

• Before 1903: acquired by the art dealer Elbert Jan van Wisselingh (1848-1912) ;
• 1908: sold by him to the Macbeth Galleries, New York;
• 1908: sold by Macbeth to Spiri, an art dealer in Amsterdam.
• 1911: owned by David Heinemann (dates unknown) , Munich;
• 1912: bought from him by Howard P. Eells (1855-1919) , Cleveland;
• 1919: bequeathed to his widow, Alice Maud Stager (Mrs Eells) (1865-1961) ;
• 1942: given by her to the Cleveland Museum of Art.

According to Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919), of Detroit, in 1903 E. J. van Wisselingh, art dealer, of London and The Hague, owned what Freer described as the 'lute player', which was probably this portrait. 1 It was sold by van Wisselingh to the Macbeth Gallery, New York, on 20 February 1908 for $l0,000, but returned to the Netherlands and was sold by Macbeth's to Spiri on 1 May 1908. It was owned by David Heinemann in 1911. 2 It was bought from Heinemann by Howard P. Eells in the following year for $8000, and bequeathed to his widow, Maud Eells, 11 February 1919; she gave it to the Cleveland Museum of Art on 31 December 1942. 3

Exhibitions

• 1903: Entwicklung des Impressionismus in Malerei und Plastik: XVI. Ausstellung der Vereinigung Bildender Künstler Österreichs, Vienna, 1903 (cat. no. 90) as 'Die Violinspielerin'.
• 1905: Memorial Exhibition of the Works of the late James McNeill Whistler, First President of The International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers, New Gallery, Regent Street, London, 1905 (cat. no. 34) as 'The Violinist'.

As their corresponding member, Whistler sent the painting to the 16th exhibition of the Vienna Secession. It was lent by 'Monsieur Z' (probably E. J. van Wisselingh) to the 1905 memorial exhibition. The photograph reproduced above may date from that time.