Eustache Le Sueur

Probably commissioned directly from the artist by Jean-Baptiste Lambert (1608–1644), or his brother Nicolas Lambert de Thorigny (1613–1692), Hôtel Lambert, Paris;

Presumably by descent to the latter's grandson, Alexandre-Louis Lambert de Thorigny, until 12 April 1732;

From whom likely acquired by Marie-Anne-Armande Carton Fontaine (1684–1745) and her son-in-law Claude Dupin (1686–1769) and daughter Louise-Marie-Madeleine Fontaine (1706–1799), Hôtel Lambert, Paris, until 31 March 1739;

From whom acquired by Marquis Florent-Claude du Chastellet-Lomont (1695–1765) and his wife Gabrielle Émilie de Breteuil, Marquise du Châtelet (1706–1749), until 1745;

From whom acquired by Marin Delahaye (1684–1753), Hôtel Lambert, Paris, 1745–53;

Thence by inheritance to his brother, Marc-Antoine Delahaye de Bazinville (1702–1785), Hôtel Lambert, Paris;

Thence by descent to his daughter, Antoinette Marguerite Joseph Delahaye de Bazinville (1733–1813), Hôtel Fieubet, Paris;

Thence by descent until 2009;

By whom sold ('From the Hôtel Lambert'), Paris, Christie's, 23 June 2009, lot 88, for €1,353,000;

Where acquired by Noortman Master Paintings, Amsterdam;

By whom sold, New York, Sotheby's, 28 January 2016, lot 37, for $970,000;

Where acquired for the present collection.

Maastricht, TEFAF, 12 March – 21 March 2010 and 18 March – 27 March 2011;

Paris, Palais de la Bourse, Paris Tableau, Le salon international de la peinture ancienne, 4–8 November 2011.

Inventory listing in deed of purchase of Hôtel Lambert, Paris, 31 March 1739, Archives nationales, Minutier central, LXXXVIII–565, in Boyer 2012, p. 151;

Inventory of paintings from the collection of the deceased Marin Delahaye, Paris, 13 October 1753, Archives nationales, Minutier central, LVII–408, no. 1378, in Bailey 2001, p. 70;

C. Bailey, 'Poussin's L'enfance de Bacchus newly identified in two eighteenth-century collections', in Mélanges en hommage à Pierre Rosenberg, Paris 2001, p. 70, appendix I, no. 1378;

E. de Maintenant, 'Redécouverte d'une œuvre de jeunesse d'Eustache Le Sueur provenant de l'hôtel Lambert', in L'Estampille – Objet d'Art, no. 447, June 2009, pp. 26–27, reproduced in colour p. 26;

Paris Tableau, Le salon international de la peinture ancienne, exh. cat., Paris 2011, p. 14, reproduced in colour p. 14 (detail);

J-C. Boyer, 'Voltaire à l'hôtel Lambert, de Gomberville à Le Sueur', in Revue Voltaire, no. 12, 2012, pp. 147–61, reproduced p. 148, fig. 1.