Blue and Silver: Dieppe may date from August 1897, but more likely from the summer of 1898 or 1899. 1 It is dated from the technique, Whistler's known visits to Dieppe, and the butterfly signature. Whistler was in Dieppe about the middle of August 1898 en route to London, and it may date from that brief visit. He was there again in 1899, when he probably painted Green and Silver: The Great Sea [YMSM 518], which is similar in colour and technique.

Blue and Silver: Dieppe, New Britain Museum of American Art

Green and Silver: The Great Sea, The Hunterian

The painting was sold when barely dry by Whistler to the author Amy Lowell (1874-1925) of Brookline, Massachusetts, who was then staying at 2 Clarges Street, Piccadilly, but unfortunately his letter about the sale is not dated. 2