Follower of François Boucher

Baron Mayer Amschel de Rothschild (1818–1874), Mentmore Towers;

By descent to Archibald Philip Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery (1847–1929), Mentmore Towers;

By descent to Harry Primrose, 6th Earl of Rosebery (1882–1974), Mentmore Towers;

By whose Executors and family sold, on the premises, Sotheby's, 25 May 1977, lot 2450 (as school of François Boucher);

With Weston Gallery, Norwich, by May 1978;

Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 1 December 1978, lot 53 (as studio of Boucher).

This composition relates to François Boucher's painting in the Banque de France, Paris, signed and dated 1755.¹ The autograph version, of oval format,belongs to a group of four scenes from Tasso's drama Aminta (1573), commissioned by the Marquise de Pompadour in 1756 to serve as overdoors inthe grand salon of the Château de Crécy.

¹ Oil on canvas, 120 x 136 cm.; A. Ananoff, François Boucher, Paris 1976, vol. 2, pp. 137–38, no. 460, reproduced fig. 1292.