* Jean-Baptiste Greuze Tournus 1725 - 1805 Paris

With Wildenstein & Co., New York;
William Randolph Hearst, by 1928;
With Ehrich Galleries, New York;
Their sale, New York, American Art Association/Anderson Galleries, Inc., April 2, 1931, lot 75;
There purchased by C.H.P. Yalalee for $4,200;
With Newhouse Galleries, Inc., New York;
With Hammer Galleries, New York;
Anonymous sale, New York, Christie's, June 15, 1977, lot 74, sold for $13,200;
Mrs. Julia T. de Bermudez;
Thence by descent in the family.

E. Singleton, Old Masters in New World Collections, New York 1929, p. 308, reproduced  p. 309;
T. Burollet, Musée Cognacq-Jay, Peintures et dessins, Paris 1980, pp. 102-103, no. 38 (catalogued as attribué à Greuze).

We are grateful to Edgar Munhall who, based on firsthand inspection, has confirmed the present painting to be by Greuze.  In a written communication dated April 7, 2004 he states:  “In my opinion, this Girl with a Dog appears to be the finest and only autograph example of a composition of which a number of weaker versions exist, all of which I consider non-autograph:  in the Musée Cognacq-Jay, Paris, the Gemäldegalerie der Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Vienna, and one that was in a private collection, Paris in 1963.  In contrast to these, the present version displays the unmistakable ‘handwriting’ of Greuze’s brushwork in the rapidly painted bonnet and sky, the vivid strokes of the lips, the fine hand, and the usual, convincing image of the anxious dog.”

The present painting and its variants are not included in the Martin-Masson catalogue of the works of Greuze, however another one is, under number 505, Petite Fille au chien épagneul.  That painting’s history, going back to the Demidoff sale of February 21-22, 1870, lot 112 is sometimes confused with that of the present one, and its composition, while similar, is in fact quite different.  Another variant of the present composition was sold at Christie’s, London on December 11, 1987, lot 93.