Gabriel Metsu Leiden 1629 - 1669 Amsterdam

Grave van Wassenaar (according to Hoet);
Willem Lormier, 1735;
His deceased sale, the Hague, Franken, July 4, 1763, lot 179, sold for 605 florins, De heer van Heekeren (?), as een man en een vrouw aan Tafel zittende om te Eeten (An man and a woman seated at a tableeating);
Mr. de Nogaret;
His sale, Paris, Le Brun, June 2, 1780, sold for 3 800 francs;
Duc de Choiseul-Praslin;
His deceased sale, Paris, Boileau, February 18, 1793, lot 64 where purchased by his son, Senateur de Choiseul-Praslin, for 3 350 francs;
Senateur de Choiseul-Praslin;
By whom sold, Paris, Paillet, May 9 - 10, 1808, lot 20 (with the incorrect provenance of "Cabinet de feu Mr. Poullain") where purchased by Paillet for 4 001 francs;
Earl of Granville, 1835;
Possibly Earl of Granville sale, London, Christie's, June 21, 1845;
Baron E. de Beurnonville, Paris;
His sale, Paris, George Petit, May 9 - 16, 1881, lot 365, sold for 20,000 francs;
With Sedelmeyer Gallery, Paris, by whom sold in 1881 for 25,000 francs;
E. Secrétan;
His sale, Paris, July 1 - 4, 1889, lot 142, for 64,500 francs to Agnew;
With Thomas Agnew & Sons, Lot 1889, who bought the painting on behalf of Edward Guinness and sold it to him for £2,844.9;
Edward Cecil Guinness, 1st Earl of Iveagh, London, 1889;
By inheritance to Arthur Ernest Guiness, Holmbury House, Holmbury St. Mary, Surrey, 1927;
By whose Executors sold, London, Christie’s, July 10, 1953, lot 62, for 7,000 guineas to Duits;
With Duits Gallery, Ltd., and Marlborough, London, 1953, no. 342;
Possibly Emil G. Bührle, (according to the mounted photograph in the RKD, The Hague, but Lucas Gloor, curator of the Foundation Emil G. Bührle, could not confirm his ownership);
Possibly sold to Clifford Duits in July 1958 (according to the Duits Gallery Archive);
Count Hans Christopher von Seherr-Thoss, Litchfield, Connecticut, 1958;
Thence by descent.

London, British Gallery, 1835, lent by Earl Granville;
London, Royal Academy, Winter Exhibition 1891, lent by Sir E.C. Guinness;
Paris, Sedelmeyer Gallery, Illustrated Catalogue of 300 Paintings of the Dutch, Flemish, Italian, French and English Schools, being some of the principal pictures which have at various times formed part of the Sedelmeyer Gallery, 1889, cat. no. 89;
London, Royal Academy, Winter Exhibition, 1952-1953, no. 505, lent by the Hon. Ernst Guiness;
Paris, 1954, lent by Duits galerie to an exhibition.

J. Smith, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish and French Painters, vol. IV, London 1833, p. 57, no. 42;
J. Smith, Supplement to the Catalogue Raisonné..., London 1842, p. 579,  no. 11;
C. Hofstede de Groot, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painter of the Seventeenth Century, vol. I, London 1908, pp. 305-6, no. 171;
S.J. Gudlaugsson: Gerard Ter Borch, The Hague 1959-60, vol. II, p. 201, under cat. no. 219 (as a likely model for a painting by Ter Borch of a Smoker in the Staatliches Museen, Berlin);
F.W. Robinson, Gabriel Metsu (1629 - 1667): A Study of his Place in Dutch Genre Painting of the Golden Age, New York 1974, p. 48, reproduced p. 166. fig. 114 (as datable to circa 1659 - 60)

We are most grateful to Dr. Adriaan Waiboer for confirming the traditional attribution to Metsu, following first hand inspection, and for his invaluable help in reconstructing the later provenance.  Dr. Waiboer dates this painting circa 1657-8, slightly earlier than Frank Robinson, who placed it circa 1659-60.

Willem Lormier was a highly successful gentleman-dealer, whose detailed records have survived.  His sale did not take place immediately following his death, but was deferred by his widow until 1763, possibly due to the Seven Year War, which ended in that year.  The sale was carefully orchestrated, with newspaper advertisements and a catalogue in Dutch and French with a print run of 600, available in twenty major European cities.  Subsequently, a catalogue was published celebrating the sale, and listing the prices achieved.