James McNeil Whistler, "Portrait of Lucas Alexander Ionides" (1860) Courtesy of Bonhams

Artnet_ The first paid portrait that renown artist James McNeil Whistler ever painted is set to make its auction debut. Portrait of Lucas Alexander Ionides (1860) will appear in Bonhams’ 19th Century British and Impressionist Art sale on September 25 in London, where it’s estimated to fetch £80,000 to £120,000. It’s a steal, too. By comparison, the lots slated to lead the sale include William Adolphe Bouguereau’s Fardeau Agréable (1895) (est. £800,000 – £1,200,000) and Nikolai Fechin’s Portrait of Mademoiselle Ductor (1917) (est. £300,000 – £500,000).

William Adolphe Bouguereau, Fardeau Agréable (Pleasant Burden) (1895) Courtesy of Bonhams

Though it’s not expected to hammer hardest at next month’s event, what exactly renders Whistler’s Portrait of Lucas Alexander Ionides amongst the most interesting paintings on offer? Not only is it the first portrait that Whistler ever painted on commission—it also depicts his good friend Luke Ionides, a stockbroker and businessman descended from the same Greek mercantile family that partied with artists like Henri Fantin-Latour and William Morris—and produced the Pre-Raphaelite muse Aglaia Ionides Coronio, who’s Luke’s sister. According to the University of Glasgow, Luke Ionides met Whistler in 1955, shortly after the artist moved to Paris. He often purchased Whistler’s work, and helped fund his friend’s burgeoning career. The duo remained close for nearly half a century.

“Throughout all the years that I knew Whistler, we never had any disagreement,” Ionides wrote in his 1924 memoir, Memories. “I always found him quite easy to get on with, and quite free from the touchiness one so often hears imputed to him.” The original typed manuscript for this book will accompany the painting on the block next month.

James McNeil Whistler, Portrait of Whistler with a Hat (1857-1859) (Photo by Heritage Art/Heritage Images via Getty Images)

Whistler started painted Ionides over the course of six months and 12 sittings, soon after moving to London’s historic artist enclave on Newman Street in May 1859. The sitter’s father commissioned this early work, which encapsulates Whistler’s foundational experiments in light, shade, and color, all inspired by the encounters he’d just had with French painters like Gustave Courbet. “Ionides’ steadfast gaze and subtle pink glow are an outstanding demonstration of Whistler’s early talent for portraiture and reveals the tenderness for his friend,” Bonhams’ Head of 19th Century British and Impressionist Art Charles O’Brien adds of the work in a press release. The sitter was a well-known, gregarious character.

Upon its completion, Portrait of Lucas Alexander Ionides hung in the Ionides family home in Tulse Hill, before moving with them to 1 Holland Park in 1864, where it remained before falling to the sitter’s son’s possession following his death in 1924. Whistler’s portrait then stuck with the Ionides family throughout four successive generations, before it was sold by Hugo Meynell Ionides to Michael Carruthers in 1968. The work has remained in the Carruthers’ family collection ever since. Next month marks just the second time this portrait’s ever gone up for grabs—and its first time on the open market.

What’s more, Portrait of Lucas Alexander Ionides has only been displayed publicly once, in an Arts Council exhibition around Whistler that took place in London during 1960. Keep your eyes peeled to see whether this painting ends up in another private collection, and whether it outdoes its estimate.