Follower of Peter Paul Rubens

Possibly Mme Camille Groult, Paris;
Possibly Sir Robert Henry Edward (Alabert?) Abdy, 5th Bart., Paris;
Mrs. Peter Cooper (Lucy Work) Hewitt, New York;
Her Estate sale, New York, American Art Association/Anderson Galleries, 6 April 1935, lot 613;
Frederick R. Bay, New York, by 1936 until at least 1939;
Charles Ulrick Bay, New York, by 1942;
His widow, Josephine Bay Paul, New York, 1955;
By whom given to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1960 (Inv. no. 60.169).

Detroit, Detroit Institute of Arts, Sixty Paintings and Some Drawings by Peter Paul Rubens, 13 February - 15 March 1936, cat. no. 29 (as Rubens);
Oslo, Najonalgalleriet, 1937;
Brussels' Musées Royaux des Beaux‑Arts de Belgique, Esquisses de Rubens, August - September 1937, cat. no. 51;
New York, World's Fair, Masterpieces of Art: European Paintings and Sculpture from 1300-1800, May-October 1939, cat. no. 333 (as Rubens);
New York, Schaeffer and Brandt Galleries, Peter Paul Rubens, 23 November 23 - 19
December 1942, cat. no. 16a;
New York, Wildenstein & Co. Inc., The Child Through Four Centuries, 1 - 28 March 1945, cat. no. 2;
Rotterdam, Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Olieverfschetsen van Rubens, 1953, cat. no. 43 (as Rubens);
New York, Wildenstein & Co., Inc., Paintings from St. James' Collectors, 1955, cat. no. 2.

W.R. Valentiner, in Sixty Paintings and Some Drawings by Peter Paul Rubens. exhibition catalogue, Detroit 1936, unpaginated, no. 29, reproduced (as Rubens);
M. Vaughan, "Old Masters at the Fair," in Parnassus 11 (May 1939), reproduced p. 11 (as Rubens);
L. van Puyvelde, Les esquisses de Rubens, Basel 1940, pp. 17, 49, 79–80, cat. no. 49, reproduced fig. 49 [English ed., The Sketches of Rubens, London 1947, pp. 18, 51, 81, cat. no. 49, reproduced fig. 49] (as Rubens);
W.R. Valentiner, "Rubens' Paintings in America," in The Art Quarterly 9 (Spring 1946), p. 163, no. 8 (as Rubens);
J.- A. Goris and J.S. Held, Rubens in America, New York 1947, p. 46, cat. no. A11, reproduced Appendix, plate 7 (as not by Rubens);
E. Haverkamp - Begemann, in Olieverfschetsen van Rubens. exhibition catalogue, Rotterdam 1953, pp. 64–65, cat. no. 43, reproduced fig. 45 (as Rubens);
O. Benesch, "Review of Ref. Goris and Held 1947," in Kunstchronik 7 (March 1954), p. 77 (as Rubens);
J.S. Held, Rubens: Selected Drawings. London 1959, Vol. I, p. 138, under cat. no. 106 (as not by Rubens);
M. Varshavskaya, Rubens' Paintings in the Hermitage Museum. Leningrad 1975, p. 176, under no. 28, reproduced (as Studio of Rubens);
E. Mitsch, Die Rubenszeichnungen der Albertina, exhibition catalogue, Vienna 1977, p. 92, under cat. no. 38;
K. Baetjer, European Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, by artists born in or before 1865, A Summary Catalogue, New York 1980, vol. I, p. 161, Vol. III, reproduced p. 373;
W.A. Liedtke, Flemish Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 1984, Vol. I, pp. 231–33; Vol. II, reproduced plate 88 (as copy after Rubens, probably 17th century);
J.S. Held, Rubens, Selected Drawings, London 1986, p. 133, under cat. no. 162 (as not by Rubens);
K. Baetjer, European Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, by artists born in or before 1865, A Summary Catalogue, New York 1995; p. 282, reproduced;
A.-M.S. Logan and M.C. Plomp, in Peter Paul Rubens, exhibition catalogue, Vienna 2004, p. 357 [English ed., "Peter Paul Rubens: The Drawings," New York 2005, pp. 244, 246], (as School of Rubens).

Panel has been cradled and is flat and stable. the paint surface overall has been very well retained with good preservation of the impastos. examination under ultraviolet light: figure and flesh tones look very good with only some very small retouches to face and neck. there is one larger area of retouching in background to right of her neck and a smaller amount in background to left of her neck. a diagonal area of retouching at upper left background and some at upper right and lower left corners. the painting is presentable and there is no need for further work. offered in an elaborately carved and gilt wood frame.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

The sitter of this portrait resembles the younger subject of a similarly informal portrait by Rubens in the collections of the Princes of Liechtenstein in Vaduz.  She also closely resembles the sitter in a drawing by Rubens, now in the Albertina, Vienna. The Vaduz portrait and Albertina drawing have both traditionally been thought to depict the artist's daughter, Clara Serena, who died at the age of twelve in 1623.  As Held observes (see Literature), such a repeated portrayal of apparently the same sitter does suggest a close personal contact between artist and model.