François Boucher

Probably Claret Collection;

Probably his sale, 16–19 November 1850, lot 90 (as first recorded in Ananoff 1976: see Literature);

Anonymous sale ('ancien avocat général'), Paris, 14 April 1866, lot 18, for 1,300 French francs (as first recorded in Michel 1906: see Literature);

Dhios Collection;

By whom anonymously sold, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, 15 April 1867, lot 7, for 830 French francs;

Paul Barroilhet (1810–1871), Paris;

His posthumous sale, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, 15–16 March 1872, lot 1, for 950 French francs to 'Petit' [likely Galerie Georges Petit, Paris];

Private collection, Germany, from before 1960;

Thence by descent in the family;

Until anonymously sold ('The Property of a Gentleman'), London, Sotheby's, 7 July 1993, lot 8;

Where acquired by French & Company, New York;

From whom purchased by a private collector, United Kingdom, in January 1997;

By whom sold privately, London, Sotheby's, 12 December 2013;

When acquired by the present owner.

E. and J. de Goncourt, L'Art du dix-huitième siècle, 3rd ed., Paris 1880, vol. I, p. 190;

A. Michel, François Boucher, Paris 1906, p. 14, under no. 202;

P. de Nolhac, François Boucher: Premier Peintre du Roi (1703–1770), Paris 1907, p. 121;

Exposition François Boucher (1703–1770), exh. cat., Paris 1932, p. 7, under no. 12;

A. Ananoff, François Boucher, Paris 1976, vol. I , p. 313, no. 195 (as lost);

A. Ananoff and D. Wildenstein, L'opera completa di Boucher, Milan 1980, p. 107, no. 275 (as lost);

M.-C.Sahut, in Nouvelles acquisitions du Département des Peintures (1987–90), J. Foucart (ed.), Paris 1991, p. 100.