Painted in 1752-1753 for Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour for the Salon de Compagnie, Château de Bellevue [1]

Mentioned in the vestibule of the first floor in the inventory after the death of Mme de Pompadour, Hôtel de Pompadour (now the Palais de l'Elysée), Paris, 26 July 1764 [2] [3]

Inherited by Abel-François Poisson, Marquis de Marigny, brother of Mme de Pompadour

Estate sale of Marquis de Ménars (formerly Marigny), Paris, 18 March 1782, no. 124 [4]

Acquired for 3,100 livres by Basan

Possibly Frank Hall Standish, England [5]

Bequeathed to King Louis-Philippe of France, 1842

King Louis-Philippe sale, London, Christie's, 18-30 May 1853, nos. 190-193.

Acquired by Samuel Wheeler [6]

Wheeler sale, London, Christie's, 29 July 1871, no. 118

Bought by "G. Smith"

Possibly anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 21 July 1888, no. 57

Bought by "Speakman"

Possibly anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 1 December 1888, no. 66

Bought by "Radley"

Possibly Sir Hume Campbell sale, London, Christie's, 16 June 1894, nos. 13-14

Probably collection of Baron Nathaniel de Rothschild, Vienna [7]

Confiscated by the German Occupying Forces in World War II and placed in the salt mine at Altaussee, Austria

Restituted to Rothschild's nephew, Alphonse de Rothschild, 1946

[Rosenberg and Stiebel, Inc., New York, 1950]

Acquired by the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, 1950


[1] On 6 August 1752, two canvases were sketched and the following 17 October the entire suite was worked out. 800 livres were paid for each painting, which was published with some variations by Engerand (Furcy-Raynaud 1904, pp. 21 and 27).
[2] Valued at 1,800 livres .
[3] Nolhac 1903, p. 403; and Cordey 1939, p. 91, no. 1238.
[4] As "ronds. D. O,81".
[5] Catalogue des tableaux, dessins et gravures de la collection Standish, légués au roi par M. Franck Hall Standish. Paris: Imp. de Crapelet, 1842, nos. 227-230.
[6] Wheeler exhibited the paintings in London at the British Institution, 1864, nos. 66-67 ("Sculpture" and "Architecture") and 73-74 ("Painting" and "Music") (Graves 1913-1915, p. 1545).
[7] 1903 catalog, no. 18, 78 ✕ 82 cm.

1753, Paris. Académie des Beaux-Arts. "Salon de 1753," no. 180 (presented several days after the opening).

1954, New York. Wildenstein & Co., Inc. “French Eighteenth Century Painters,” 16 November - 11 December, nos. 18 and 19.

1959, Baltimore Museum of Art. “Age of Elegance: The Rococo and Its Effect,” 25 April - 14 June, no. 22.

1964, Cleveland Museum of Art. “Neo-Classicism, Style and Motif,” 21 September - November, no. 16.

1975-1976, Toledo-Chicago-Ottawa. “The Age of Louis XV: French Painting 1710-1774.” The Toledo Museum of Art, 26 October - 7 December 1975; The Art Institute of Chicago, 10 January - 22 February 1976; Ottawa, The National Gallery of Canada, 21 March - 2 May 1976, no. 107, pl. 83.

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, nos. 39-42.

1981-1982, San Francisco. California Palace of the Legion of Honor. “The Studio of the Artist,” 2 December 1981 - 27 February 1982, no catalog.

1982, Florida. “Exotic Kingdoms: China and Europe in the 18th Century.” St. Petersburg, Museum of Fine Arts, 24 January - 28 February; Palm Beach, Society of the Four Arts, 12 March-18 April, no. 87.

2002-2003, Paris-Munich-London. "Madame de Pompadour et les arts." Musée national du château de Versailles, 13 February 2002 - 19 May 2002; Munich, Kunsthalle, 14 June 2002 - 15 September 2002; London, The National Gallery, 16 October 2002 - 12 January 2003.

D[ezallier d'Argenville, Antoine-Nicolas]. Voyage pittoresque des environs de Paris, ou description des maisons royales, châteaux & autres lieux de plaisance, situés à quinze lieues aux environs de cette ville. Paris: De Bure l'Aîné, 1762 (3d ed), p. 31.

Michel-François Dandré-Bardon. Vie de Carle Vanloo. Paris, 1765, p. 59.

Jean-Aymar Piganiol de la Force. Description historique de la Ville de Paris et de ses environs. Rev. and aug. Lafont de Saint-Yenne. 10 vols. Paris: G. Desprez, 1765, 9:42.

Luc-Vincent Thiéry. Guide des amateurs et des étrangers voyageurs dans les maisons royales, châteaux, lieux de plaisance, établissements publics, villages et séjours les plus renommés. Aux environs de Paris. Vol. 1. Paris: Hardouin & Gattey, 1788, p. 316.

Charles Blanc. Histoires des peintres de toutes les écoles: Ecole française. 3 vols. Paris: Vve Jules Renouard, 1862-1863, 2:11, s.v. "Vanloo."

Fernand Engerand. Inventaire des tableaux commandés et achetés par la Direction des Bâtiments du Roi (1709-1792). Paris: Ernest Leroux, 1900, pp. 486-487.

Pierre de Nolhac. "Mme de Pompadour et les arts.” L’Art, no. 756 (October 1902): p. 567.

Pierre de Nolhac. "Mme de Pompadour et les arts.” L’Art, no. 766 (August 1903): p. 403, 407 (note 1), 409, 619.

Marc Furcy-Raynaud. Correspondance de M. de Marigny avec Coypel, Lépicié, et Cochin. 2 vols. Vol. 1, 1903. Nouvelles Archives de l'Art Français 3d ser. 19 (1904). Reprint. Paris: F. de Nobele, 1973, p. 21, 27, 56.

Algernon Graves. A Century of Loan Exhibitions, 1813-1912. London: 1913-1915, p. 1545.

Charles Maumené and Louis d'Harcourt. "Iconographie des rois de France: Seconde partie. Louis XIV, Louis XV, Louis XVI." Archives de l'Art Français 16 (1931): pp. 412-413, no. 373 ("Sculpture").

Paul Biver. Histoire du château de Bellevue. Paris: Libraire Gabriel Enault, 1933, pp. 30-33, 145, 167.

Louis Réau. "Carle Vanloo (1705-1765)." Archives de l'Art Français 19 (1938): pp. 60-61, nos. 73-76.

Jean Cordey. Inventaire des biens de Madame de Pompadour rédigé après son décès. Paris: F. Lefrançois, 1939, p. 91, no. 1238.

Thomas C. Howe. "Four Recent Acquisitions." Bulletin of the California Palace of the Legion of Honor 8, nos. 7-8 (November-December 1950): repr.

Handbook of the Collections: California Palace of the Legion of Honor. San Francisco: California Palace of the Legion of Honor, 1960, p. 63 ("Architecture" repr.).

William Davenport. Art Treasures in the West. Menlo Park, CA: Lane Magazine & Book Company, 1966, p. 155.

Pierre Rosenberg and Catherine Johnson. French Master Drawings of the 17th & 18th Centuries in North American Collections. London: Secker & Warburg, 1972, pp. 217-218.

Alfred Frankenstein. "A Reassessment of French Masters…at the Legion." San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle (21 January 1973): pp. 42-43 ("Painting," repr. on 42).

C. M. Kauffman. Catalogue of Foreign Paintings, Victoria and Albert Museum. 2 vols. London: Eyre & Spottiswood Ltd., Manet Press, 1973, 1:284.

Albert Pomme de Mirimonde. L'iconographie musicale sous les rois Bourbons: La musique dans les arts plastiques XVIIe-XVIIIe siècles. 2 vols. Paris: Editions A. et J. Picard, 1975, pp. 27-28 ("Music," pl. 14).

Clarice Henry. "The Works of Carle Van Loo in North American Collections." Thesis (M.A.), Queens College, The City University of New York, 1976, nos. 74, 76, 82, 88, pls. 35, 36, 40, 42.

Pierre Rosenberg and Marie-Catherine Sahut. Carle Vanloo: premier peintre du roi (Nice, 1705-Paris, 1765). Nice: Musée Chéret, 1977, nos. 125, 126, 127, 128, repr.

Grace Glueck. "San Francisco's French Art Museum Flowers with New Permanent Show." New York Times (5 July 1980): p. 9 ("Painting," repr.).

Rosalind Savill. "Six Enamelled Snuff-Boxes in the Wallace Collection.' Apollo 111, no. 218 (April 1980): p. 306, 309 (note 12).

"A Look into the Artist's Studio." Westart (12 February 1982): p. 14.

Pinkney L. Near. "Carle Van Loo, 'A Pasha Having his Mistress's Portrait Painted'." Arts in Virginia 23, no. 3 (1983): p. 25, fig. 14.

T. Lefrançois. “Les peintures provençales anciennes des Fine Arts Museums de San Francisco,” Bulletin Mensuel de l'Académie de Vaucluse (January 1985), p. 4.

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. 292-306, repr.