Provenance

• 1901: bought from Alexander Reid (1854-1928) , Glasgow art dealer, by John James Cowan (1846-1936) , Edinburgh;
• 1904: sold through Marchant, London art dealer, to Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919) , Detroit, in June 1904;
• 1919: bequeathed by C. L. Freer to the Freer Gallery of Art.

It was bought from Alexander Reid by the Scottish collector J. J. Cowan, and identified by Whistler from a drawing and photograph sent by Cowan. 1 Cowan sold it through William Marchant & Co. to C. L. Freer in June 1904 for £150.0.0 plus commission.

It has the label of Goupil, London art dealers, on the back, which may mean that they handled it, or exhibited it, at some time.

Exhibitions

• 1904: 78th Exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, 1904 (cat. no. 313) as 'The Little Nurse'.

It was not exhibited in Whistler's lifetime, as far as is known.

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