One of four overdoors from a suite of five pastoral scenes perhaps acquired at the sale, Paris, Hôtel des Ventes Mobilières, 28-29 November 1834, lot 15, by Gregory Williams (1786-1854) [1]

Inherited by his cousin George Gregory (d. 1860), 1854

Inherited by the family solicitor, John Sherwin, who added Gregory to his name, 1860-1869

Inherited by his widow, Catherine Sherwin-Gregory, who acted as Squire of Harlaxton from 1869-1892

Inherited by Thomas Sherwin Pearson (1851-1935), cousin and godson of Sherwin-Gregory, who added Gregory to his name, 1892

Inherited by his son, Major Philip Pearson-Gregory (d. 1936), 1935

Pearson-Gregory estate sale (the context of Harlaxton Manor), London, Christie's, 18 June 1937, no. 12

[acquired by Duveen, Brothers, New York, in half-share with Wildenstein & Co., Inc., 1937] [2]

Roscoe and Margaret Oakes, San Francisco, 13 April 1954 [3]

Gift to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 1975 [4]


[1] Gregory Williams took the surname Gregory (becoming Gregory Gregory) when he succeeded to the estates of his father and his uncle in 1822, Harlaxton Manor, Grantham, Lincolnshire.
[2] The four overdoors were converted by Duveen to a rectangular format.
[3] On loan to the de Young Museum 1954-1972, and to the California Palace of the Legion of Honor 1972-1975.
[4] Restored to original oval format in 1978.

1943, New York. Duveen Galleries, Inc. “Exhibition of Boucher Paintings.”

1947, The Detroit Institute of Arts. “A Loan Exhibition of French Paintings XVIl-XX Centuries,” 6 - 30 March, p. 3.

1952, New York. Duveen Galleries, Inc. “French Art in Painting and Sculpture of the Eighteenth Century,” 23 October - 22 November, no. 5.

1952-1953, Palm Beach. Society of the Four Arts. “Eighteenth Century Masterpieces,” 12 December 1952 - 4 January 1953, no. 2.

1978-1979, Denver-New York-Minneapolis. “Masterpieces of French Art: The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.” Denver Art Museum, 26 December 1978 - 18 February 1979; New York, Wildenstein & Co., Inc., 14 March - 27 April 1979; The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 24 May - 1 July 1979, no. 2.

Royal Cortissoz. "Decorations by François Boucher in New York." New York Herald Times (24 October 1943).

Royal Cortissoz. Decorations by François Boucher. New York: The William Bradford Press, 1944, pl. 15.

Art News (February 1946): repr. in color.

Art News (December 1946): p. 8.

Time (2 August 1954): p. 58, repr. in color.

Paul Wescher. “Neuerwerbungen des De Young Museums in San Francisco.” Kunstchronik (October 1957): p. 311.

European Works of Art in the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum. San Francisco: Diablo Press, 1966, p. 180, repr.

Christopher Hibbert. Versailles. New York: Newsweek, 1972, p. 170, repr. on 90.

Regina Shoolman Slatkin. François Boucher in North American Collections: 100 Drawings. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 1974, mentioned under no. 48 on 63, fig. 25.

Alexandre Ananoff with Daniel Wildenstein. François Boucher. 2 vols. Paris: La Bibliothèque des Arts, 1976, 1:400, no. 290, fig. 846.

Jean-Luc Bordeaux. “Un musée français en Californie.” Connaissance des Arts, no. 299 (January 1977): p. 36.

Pierrette Jean-Richard. L'œuvre gravé de François Boucher dans la collection Edmond de Rothschild au Musée du Louvre. Paris: Editions des Musées Nationaux, 1978, p. 341.

Regina Shoolman Slatkin. "The New Boucher Catalogue." Burlington Magazine 121, no. 911 (February 1979): p. 120.

Alexandre Ananoff with Daniel Wildenstein. L’opera completa di Boucher. Milan: Rizzoli, 1980, no. 300, repr.

Denys Sutton. François Boucher: A Loan Exhibition for the Benefit of the New York Botanical Garden: 12 November - 19 December 1980. New York: Wildenstein, 1980, mentioned under no. 50 on 48.

Babbette Fromme. Curators' Choice: An Introduction to the Art Museums of the U.S. New York: Crown Publishers, 1981, p. 59.

Colin B. Bailey. The First Painters of the King French Royal Taste from Louis XIV to the Revolution. New York, NY: Stair Sainty Matthiesen, 1985, p. 135, no. 90, repr.

Alastair Laing. François Boucher, 1703-1770. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1986, mentioned under nos. 49-50 on 221, fig. 153 on 222.

Pierre Rosenberg and Marion C. Stewart. French Paintings 1500-1825: The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. San Francisco: The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 1987, pp. 114-116, repr.