Fête champêtre (Pastoral Gathering)

Probably Jean Baptiste Pierre Le Brun, Paris, by 1773; probably his sale, Pierre Rémy, Paris, December 20, 22 and 23, 1773, no. 177, as Watteau, “Vingt-six figures de pouces de proportions, occupées à chanter, à jouer & à se promener dans différens endroits d’un Parc très-orné d’arbres. La belle couleur rend ce Tableau un des plus capitaux qui soit connu de ce Maître” (Twenty-six figures, each five pouces in size, are engaged in singing, playing, and promenading in various areas of a park highly ornamented with trees. The beautiful coloring of the painting makes it one of the finest known by this master) [supported by Gabriel de Saint Aubin’s sketch in the margin of his sale catalogue; see Feinberg in Wise and Warner 1996, fig. 3]; probably Daniel Saint, Paris, by 1845; sold Hôtel des Ventes, Paris, May 4, 1846, no. 57, as Watteau, for Fr 4900, probably to Richard Seymour Conway, fourth marquess of Hertford [Goncourt 1875]. Richard Seymour Conway, fourth marquess of Hertford (d.1870), Paris [Waagen1857, pp. 79, 84]; by descent to Sir Richard Wallace, Bt. (d.1890); at his death to his widow, Lady Wallace (d. 1897); at her death to Sir John E. A. Murray Scott, Bt. (died1912); sold at Christie’s, London, June 27, 1913, no. 134 (ill.), as Pater, to Agnew, London, for 2415 gns. [annotated sales catalogue, Christie’s]; sold, as Pater, to Walter S. M. Burns, Esq. (d. 1930), North Myms Park, Hatfield, 1919 [letter of April 7, 1981 from William Joll, Agnew’s, in curatorial file]; sold Christie’s, London, June 20, 1930, no. 106 (ill.), as Lancret, to Frank T. Sabin, London, for 3045 gns. [annotated catalogue in Ryerson Library, Art Institute]; sold to Max and Leola Epstein, Chicago, 1934 [Art Institute registrar’s receipt]; given to the Art Institute, 1954.