Willem van Diest

Paul Tesse, Paris (a wax seal with his collector's mark affixed to the reverse of the panel);

His sale, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, 11 March 1876, lot 18 (as Simon de Vlieger), for 2,500 French francs, to Boquet;

Private collection, France;

Anonymous sale, Paris, Yves de Cagny, 16 December 1998, lot 26 (as Simon de Vlieger), for 750,000 French francs;

With Johnny Van Haeften, London, by 1999;

With Richard Green, London;

From whom acquired in June 1999.

Note on Provenance

In the 19^th century, this painting was owned by Paul Tesse: a French landscape painter from Donai, northern France. Tesse was also known as a keen art collector, whose collection primarily comprised works by prominent Barbizon School artists, as well as a selection of Dutch and Flemish Old Master paintings. Perhaps the best-known picture to have been owned by Tesse is Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot's Rocks in the forest of Fontainebleau, today in the National Gallery of Art, Washington.¹

¹ Accession no. 1963.10.110; oil on canvas, 46 x 59 cm.