Provenance
Painted for Corot himself; given to Pivot’s widow by the artist after 1856 but retrieved by Corot in 1873. The painting stayed in his studio until his death in 1875; it was included by mistake in the Corot studio sale, Paris, 26 May to 9 June 1875 (lot 358), but withdrawn; bequeathed by the sitter before 1892 to his niece, Mme Coffignon, and by her to her son, Edmond Coffignon (1863–1923), who lived at Blois.10 Edmond studied at the Académie Julian in Paris with Percyval Tudor-Hart (1873–1954), who lived in London, who bought (?) NG 3816 from him in around 1919 when Edmond had fallen on hard times;11 it was offered in May 1920 to the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Château de Blois, for 25,000 francs, by Ajard, but nothing came of the offer.12 Purchased by the National Gallery from P. Tudor Hart, Grant-in-Aid and Mackerell Fund, 1923.