Philippe Jacques de Loutherbourg Strasbourg 1740 - 1812 London

Count Gustav Philip Creutz, Swedish Minister in Paris, by whom lent to the Paris Salon in 1767, and thus presumably acquired from the artist earlier in the same year;
Sold or given to Gustaf Adolf Sparre when he visited Count Creutz in Paris in 1780, or following Creutz' return to Sweden in 1783;
Sparre inv., 1794, no. 53.

Paris, Salon, 1767, part of no. 124, 'Un Calme'.

Explication des Peintures, Sculptures et Gravures... (Catalogue of the Salon), Paris 1767, p. 26, under no. 124 (reprinted New York & London 1977);
Göthe, 1895, p. 29, no. 74, as in the style of Claude-Joseph Vernet;
J. Seznec & J. Adhémar, Diderot Salons, vol. III, 1767, Oxford 1963, p. 35;
Hasselgren, 1974, pp. 118, 121, 127, reproduced p.192;
P. Sanchez, Dictionnaire des Artistes exposant dans les Salons à Paris et en Provence, Dijon 2004, vol. II, p. 1109. 

"The following condition report has been provided by Henry Gentle, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. The original canvas is unlined with a small patched and restored tear, lower right. The paint layer is raised and some areas are unstable. There are some obvious pale shrinkage cracks to the darker passages. The varnish is discoloured. Overall it is in an original untouched condition."
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Probably because it is neither signed nor dated, it has not previously been noticed that this picture is by De Loutherbourg, and certainly not that it is the work entitled 'Une Calme' exhibited in the Salon of 1767 when in the Cabinet of Count Creutz, and thus the missing picture from the six De Loutherbourgs of the same dimensions exhibited as no. 124.  It is therefore the pendant to the Shipwreck ('Une Tempête') in the National Museum, Stockholm.¹

Count Creutz sold or gave this picture and the preceding lot to Gustaf Adolf Sparre, either when the latter visited him in Paris in 1780, or following his return to Sweden in 1783.

1.  Inv. NM 849; see P. Grate, French Paintings II Eighteenth Century (Catalogue of the National Museum Stockholm), Stockholm 1994, pp. 195-6, no. 175, reproduced.