How to Read Gallery Provenance Texts

The provenance for a work of art in the National Gallery's collection is listed in chronological order, beginning with the earliest known owner. Life dates, if known, are enclosed in brackets. Dealers, auction houses, or agents are enclosed in parentheses to distinguish from private owners. Relationships between owners and methods of transactions are indicated by punctuation: a semicolon is used to indicate that the work passed directly between two owners (including dealers, auction houses, or agents), and a period is used to separate two owners (including dealers auction houses or agents) if a direct transfer did not occur or is not known to have occurred. Footnotes are used to document or clarify information.