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Provenance

Casimir Perrin, marquis de Cypierre [1783-1844], Paris; (his estate sale, at his residence by Thoré, Paris, 10 March 1845 and days following, no. 24). Albert, vicomte de Curel [1827-1908], Paris;[1] his heirs; (his estate sale, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 25 November 1918 [originally scheduled for 3 May 1918], no. 26 [misprinted in auction catalogue as 23]); (M. Knoedler & Co., London, New York, and Paris);[2] sold May 1919 to Frank D. [d. 1927] and Clara W. [d. 1949] Stout, Chicago; on consignment to (M. Knoedler & Co., New York);[3] purchased 28 December 1936 by The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh;[4] gift 1937 to NGA.

[1] The vicomte de Curel, at whose 1918 estate sale the NGA painting was sold, has been identified by François Auffret, Président of La Société des Amis de Jongkind in Paris (founded 1970), with confirmation from the collector's descendants. With M. Auffret's kind permission, his research was shared with the NGA by Dr. Diana Kostyrko (e-mails, October through December 2008, in NGA curatorial files).

[2] See the Knoedler envelope containing a statement by George Sortais about the signature on the painting in which he describes the painting as "acheté par nous à cette vente" (11 December 1918, in NGA curatorial files).

[3] On sale to Stout see Knoedler sales book no. 11, page 256. For the consignment from the Stout heirs, see Knoedler commission book no. 3, number 1103 under consignments for 19 February 1937, although it is annotated as sold December 1936 to the Mellon Trust; the sale date to the Mellon Trust is also confirmed in Knoedler sales book no. 13. All M. Knoedler & Co. records, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (copies, NGA curatorial files).

[4] The Mellon Trust purchase date is according to Mellon collection files in NGA curatorial records and David Finley's notebook (donated to the NGA in 1977, now in the Gallery Archives).

Exhibition History
1924
Loan Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Frank D. Stout, The Art Institute of Chicago, 1924, no cat., mentioned in Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago (October 1924): 91, as Little Teacher.
1933
A Century of Progress, The Art Institute of Chicago, 1933, no. 211.
1937
[exhibition], Phillips Memorial Gallery, Washington, D.C., 1937, no cat.
2010
Chardin: il pittore del silenzio, Palazzo dei Diamanti, Ferrara; Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, 2010-2011, no. 48, repro. (shown only in Madrid).
Bibliography
1863
Goncourt, Edmond de, and Jules de Goncourt. "Chardin." Gazette des Beaux-Arts 1st ser., vol. 15 (December 1863): 527.
1875
Bocher, Emmanuel. Les gravures françaises du XVIIIe siècle; ou, Catalogue raisonné des estampes, eaux-fortes, pièces en couleur, au bistre et au lavis, de 1700 à 1800. 6 vols. Paris, 1875-1882: 3:34, 65, possibly no. 62.
1880
Goncourt, Edmond de, and Jules de Goncourt. L'art du dix-huitième siècle. 2 vols. Paris, 1880-1884: 1:112, 121.
1904
Schéfer, Gaston. Chardin. Paris, 1904: possibly 59.
1907
Dayot, Armand, and Jean Guiffrey. J.-B. Siméon Chardin, avec un catalogue complete de l'oeuvre du maître par Jean Guiffrey. Paris, 1907: 48, 60; in catalogue: possibly 7, 28, 32, 87, 103.
1907
Dayot, Armand. "Chardin." L'Art et les artistes. 5 (June 1907): 140.
1925
Bodkin, Thomas. "Chardin in the London and Dublin National Galleries." The Burlington Magazine 47 (1925): 92, 93, repro.
1925
Holmes, Sir Charles. "New Pictures at the National Gallery." [London] The Burlington Magazine 47 (1925): 33.
1933
"A Century of Progress Exhibit List." Art News 31 (27 May 1933): 4.
1933
"Art's Progress in America for 100 years shown at World's Fair." The Art Digest 7 (15 May 1933): 35.
1933
The Art Digest 7 (1 October 1933): 22.
1933
Wildenstein, Georges. Chardin. Paris, 1933: 170, possibly no. 170, no. 171, or no. 173.
1937
Fortune 15 (May 1937): 138, repro.
1937
Frankfurter, Alfred M. "A Portfolio of the Andrew W. Mellon Collection." Art News 35 (1 May 1937): 109, repro.
1937
Frankfurter, Alfred M. "The Mellon Gift to the Nation." Art News 35 (9 January 1937): 12.
1937
Jewell, Edward Alden. "Mellon's Gift." Magazine of Art 30, no. 2 (February 1937): 73, 81, repro. (as "Maîtress d'Ecole").
1937
"Le don de M. Mellon à la nation américaine." Revue de l'Art 376 (April 1937): 84.
1937
Washington Star. (25 April 1937): gravure section, repro.
1941
Preliminary Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1941: 39, no. 91.
1941
"World Masterpieces Lend Supreme Distinction to National Gallery of Art." The Washington Star (16 March 1941): F6.
1942
Book of Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 241, repro. 46.
1944
Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. Masterpieces of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1944: 120, color repro.
1949
Paintings and Sculpture from the Mellon Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1949 (reprinted 1953 and 1958): 103, repro.
1956
Einstein, Lewis. "Looking at French Eighteenth Century Pictures in Washington." Gazette des Beaux-Arts 6th ser., 47, no. 1048-1049 (May-June 1956): 231.
1963
Wildenstein, Georges. Chardin. Zurich, 1963: 151, no. 81, as disparu.
1965
Cooke, H. Lester. Galeria Nacional de Washington. Translated by Maria Teresa de la Cruz. Madrid, 1965: 300, repro.
1965
Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 26.
1968
National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture: Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 19, repro.
1969
Wildenstein, Georges. Chardin: catalogue raisonné. Revised by Daniel Wildenstein; translated by Stuart Gilbert. Oxford, 1969: no. 81 [as whereabouts unknown]
1973
Snoep-Reitsma, Ella. "Chardin and the Bourgeois Ideals of his Time." Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek 24 (1973): 219.
1973
Wilenski, R.H. French Painting. New York, 1973:123
1975
European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 66, repro.
1975
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1975: 325, repro.
1979
Rosenberg, Pierre. Chardin. Exh. cat. Grand Palais, Paris, 1979: 228-230, repro., under no. 70.
1983
Rosenberg, Pierre. L'opera completa di Chardin. Milan, 1983: no. 104B, repro. [discussed under no. 104A]
1984
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 323, no. 426, color repro.
1985
European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 85, repro.
1986
Conisbee, Philip. Chardin. Oxford, 1986: 149.
1993
Sporre, Dennis J. The Creative Impulse: An Introduction to the Arts. New Jersey, 1993: 357, repro. fig. 12.10.
1994
Roland Michel, Marianne. Chardin. Paris, 1994: 122, 204.
1999
Rosenberg, Pierre, and Renaud Temperini. Chardin. Paris, 1999: 239, no. 105b.
2009
Conisbee, Philip, et al. French Paintings of the Fifteenth through the Eighteenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 2009: no. 15, 79-84, color repro.
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