The Dream of Saint Catherine of Alexandria

Louis-Jacques-Aimé-Theodore de Dreux, marquis de Nancré [d.1719]; who probably gave it to Philippe II, duc d'Orléans [1674-1723];[1] Louis, duc d'Orléans [1703-1752];[2] by inheritance to his grandson, Louis-Philippe-Joseph [Philippe Egalité, 1747-1793];[3] sold 1792 to viscount Edouard de Walkuers; sold to François-Louis-Joseph, marquis de Laborde-Méréville [d. 1801], who took it to London;[4] bought at (Jeremiah Harman's London)[5] by a consortium consisting of Francis Egerton, 3d duke of Bridgewater [1736-1803], Frederick Howard, 5th earl of Carlisle and the earl Gower; retained by Francis Egerton, 3d duke of Bridgewater, upon whose death it entered a trust held in succession by the following: George Granville Leveson-Gower, 2d marquess of Stafford and 1st duke of Sutherland [1758-1833], nephew of preceding; Francis Egerton, 1st earl of Ellesmere [1800-1857], son of preceding; Francis Charles Granville Egerton, 3d earl of Ellesmere [1847-1914], grandson of preceding who inherited the trust in 1903;[6] by descent to John Sutherland, 5th earl of Ellesmere and duke of Sutherland; (his sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 18 October 1946, no. 67); bought by (Hans Callmann).[7] (Count Alessandro Contini Bonacossi, Florence); purchased 1950 by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[8] gift 1952 to NGA. [1] Casimir Stryiensky, _La galerie du régent Philippe, Duc d'Orléans_, Paris, 1913: 13, 167 no. 218. Nancré had accompanied the duke to Spain and was appointed Capitaine des Suisses at the Palais Royal. Stryiensky states that Nancré had given the painting to the duke out of gratitude for honors received. On Nancré see Edmond Bonnaffé, _Dictionnaire des Amateurs français au XVIIe siècle_, Paris, 1884 (reprinted Amsterdam, 1966): 229. [2] Louis François Dubois de Saint-Gelais, _Description des tableaux du Palais Royal_, Paris, 1727: 298; this is the first documentation of the painting in the Orléans collection. [3] Jacques Couché, _La Galerie du Palais Royale_, 2 vols., Paris, 1786-1808: 1:no. 5. [4] William Buchanan, _Memoirs of Painting, with a Chronological History of the Importation of Pictures by the Great Masters into England_, London, 1824: 1:17-18, 85. M. Passavant, _Tour of a German Artist in England_, 2 vols., London, 1836 (first German edition 1833): 2:179. [5] _A Catalogue of the Orléans Pictures, which will be exhibited for sale by private contract, on Wednesday the 26th of December, 1798 and following days at the Lyceum in the Strand_, London, 1798: no. 184. [6] The history of the trust is recounted in Lionel Cust, _The Bridgewater Gallery_, London, 1903: v-vii. The painting is recorded in the following catalogues: John Britton, _Catalogue Raisonné of the Pictures Belonging to the Most Honourable Marquis of Stafford in the Gallery of Cleveland House_, London, 1808, no. 25; _Catalogue of Pictures Belonging to the Marquis of Stafford at Cleveland House_, London, 1812, no. 25; William Young Ottley and Peltro William Tomkins, _Engravings of the Most Noble the Marquis of Stafford's Collection of Pictures in London_, London, 1818, no. 37, repro.; _A Catalogue of the Collection of Pictures of the Most Noble the Marquess of Stafford at Cleveland House, London_, 2 vols., London, 1825: 1: no. 33, pl. 10; _Catalogue of the Bridgewater Collection of Pictures, Belonging to The Earl of Ellesmere at Bridgewater House, Cleveland Square_, London, 1851: no. 48; and Gustav Waagen, _Works of Art and Artists in England_, 3 vols., London, 1838: 2: 320. [7] According to marginal notations in the copy of the auction catalogue held by the Getty Provenance Index. [8] According to _Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection, Acquired by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation 1945-1951_, Washington, D.C., 1951: 134. See also The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/2145.