Jacobus Vrel

With Julius Böhler, Munich;

From whom acquired by John Dexter McIlhenny (1866-1925), Philadelphia, by 1913 (as Esaias Boursse);

Thence by inheritance to his wife, Frances Galbraith Plumer McIlhenny (1869-1943), Philadelphia;

Thence by descent to their son Henry Plumer McIlhenny (1910-1986), Philadelphia, until at least 1954;

Anonymous sale ("Another Property"), London, Christie's, 5 July 1985, lot 6 (as Jacobus Vrel);

With Johnny Van Haeften, London;

From whom acquired by Dr. Hinrich Bischoff (1936-2005), 1985;

Thence by inheritance.

Philadelphia Museum of Art, long-term loan, until at least 1954 (lent from the McIlhenny collection);

Cologne, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, long-term loan, 1993 - 2025 (inv. no. Dep. 589);

Paris, Fondation Custodia, Collection Frits Lugt, Jacobus Vrel: Énigmatique précurseur de Vermeer, 17 June - 17 September 2023, no. 14.

W.R. Valentiner, "Esaias Boursse," in Art in America 1 (1913), p. 36, reproduced fig. 16 (as Boursse or Vrel);

W.R. Valentiner, "Paintings by Pieter de Hooch and Jacobus Vrel," in Bulletin of the Detroit Institute of Arts of the City of Detroit 9, no. 7 (April 1928), p. 80 (as Vrel);

W.R. Valentiner, "Dutch Genre Painters in the Manner of Pieter de Hooch II: Jacobus Vrel," in Art in America 17 (1929), p. 88;

W.R. Valentiner, Pieter de Hooch, Des Meisters Gemälde, Berlin and Leipzig 1929, pp. xxxiv-xxxv;

C. Brière-Misme, "Un 'intimiste' hollandais, Jacob Vrel," in Revue de l’art ancien et moderne 68, no. 365 (November 1935), p. 164 note 3;

C. Brière-Misme, "Un 'intimiste' hollandais, Esaias Boursse 1631–1672," in Oud Holland 69, no. 2 (1954), p. 91 note 52, no 2;

J. Postma, "Jacobus Vrel: de vraag naar zijn herkomst en oeuvre-catalogus," M.A. thesis, Universiteit Leiden 1982, p. 101, cat. no. A 34;

E. Mai, "Wer war Jacobus Vrel? Hypothesen zum sogenannten 'Vermeer der Armen,'" in Kölner Museums–Bulletin 4 (2003), p. 55, reproduced fig. 16;

Baroque, Das Magazin für barockes Lebensgefühl 1 (2018), p. 44, reproduced;

Q. Buvelot, B. Ebert, J.R. Kan, and C. TainturierJacobus Vrel: Searching for Clues to an Enigmatic Artist, exhibition catalogue, Q. Buvelot, B. Ebert, and C. Tainturier (eds.), The Hague 2021, p. 228, cat. no. 42, reproduced p. 194.