After François-Hubert Drouais

Collection of the Earl of Lonsdale (as per a label on the reverse); 

Anonymous sale, Christie's, London, 16 April 1999, lot 76 (as Studio of François-Hubert Drouais) ;

Anonymous sale, Hampel, Munich, 16 June 2010, lot 543 (as Attributed to François-Hubert Drouais);

Where acquired.

The original composition by François-Hubert Drouais, signed and dated 1760, was exhibited at the Salon de Paris the following year, under number 83. It belonged to the Marquise de Pompadour, and then to the Marquis of Marigny, the Duke of Penthièvre-Chanteloup, the Baron Maurice de Rothschild and to Edward Julius Berwing, before being sold by Parke-Bernet on 4 December 1975 (lot 354). 

Another version of this composition, signed and dated, where the young boy is dressed in blue, was sold at Christie's, New York, on 4 October 1996 (lot 105).