It was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1871, and won a prize at the Paris Exposition Universelle in 1878. It was bought in 1871 for £1,000 by Samuel Mendel for his house at Manley Hall. It was sold at auction in 1875 for 3,100 guineas (£3,255) and acquired by William Armstrong for his house, Cragside. "The Magazine of Art", vol.14 in 1891 described "Chill October" in the Armstrong collection as "the most famous landscape in the collection ... the first and noblest of his great landscapes. It would be superfluous to describe in detail a picture which is known intimately by every British lover of art."