François Bonvin

Monsieur Vial, Paris

His Sale: Hotel Drouot, Paris, 7 March 1918, no. 3

Monsieur M. E., Paris

Sale: M M. E., Hotel Drouot, Paris, 12 June 1926, no. 16

Mrs. Carlton, London

Sale: Christie's, London, 5 November 1975

with Shepherd Gallery, New York

Mr. and Mrs. Noah L. Butkin Collection, Cleveland

New York, Wheelock Whitney& Company, François Bonvin 1817-1887: An Exhibition Paintings, 26 April-24 May 1984, no. 15

Gabriel P. Weisberg, Bonvin, Paris, 1979, p. 185, cat. no. 48, illustrated.

Wheelock Whitney & Company, François Bonvin 1817-1887: An Exhibition Paintings, New York: 1984, no. 15, illustrated.

Painted 20 years after Bonvin's 1850 Salon success with L'Ecole des orphelines (cat. rais. no. 9), this quiet, spare study of a young girl in humble dress, seated on a stool and engrossed in a book, is consistent with Bonvin's sustained interest in depicting children at school or engaged in independent studious activities. The cross hanging above the child at left suggests a somewhat hallowed setting, likely an orphanage maintained by nuns, and hinting, perhaps, at the sacred subject of her reading.