This watercolour is by Sargent's friend and fellow American, the artist Walter Gay. Gay met Sargent in about 1879, but it was not until 1895 when he started spending his summers at the Chateau de Fortoiseau that he painted the first of the empty interiors that were to become his trademark, the kind of subject with which he is now almost exclusively associated. It was at about this time that he met Whistler. Other artist friends were Degas and Mary Cassatt and he knew the writers Henry James and Edith Wharton. In 1905 he started renting the Chateau de Bréau, and two years later purchased it from the Comtesse de Grammont. Many interiors resulted from the ownership of this beautiful residence