Purchased from the artist by Charles Stewart Smith [1832-1909], New York, by 1878;[1] by inheritance to his son, Howard Caswell Smith, Oyster Bay, New York; sold 1943 to (Wildenstein & Co., New York); purchased 31 December 1943 by NGA. [1] Smith's son believed that his father purchased the painting directly from the artist, per his letter of 31 October 1947, in NGA curatorial files. However, Charles Smith may instead have purchased the painting at auction in early 1877. Gerdts (in Lloyd Goodrich, edited and expanded by Abigail Booth Gerdts, _Record of Works by Winslow Homer_, New York, 2005: 2:no. 596) writes that according to the _New York Commercial Advertiser_ (27 February 1877), the artist sent the painting to be included in an exhibition at Kurtz Gallery, New York, that was to be followed by the works being auctioned under the direction of Daniel A. Mathews on 1 and 2 March 1877. The _New York Herald_ announced (3 March 1877) that the painting sold for one of the highest prices realized at the auction.