THOMAS VAN DER WILT | Portrait of a small boy in blue with a feathered cap tempting a bird into a cage with a piece of pretzel

Charles Joseph, Count Lichtervelde (d. 1803), Ghent;

His sale, London, Christie's, 29-30 May 1801, lot 30 (as Mieris), for £4-14s. to John Edward Breen;

Mrs Luke Foreman;

By whom sold, London, Christie's, 9 July 1822, lot 65 (as Mieris), for £8-2s. to John Bartie.

Inventory, 1949, in the Library

This painting is a likely pendant to the signed and dated work of 1695 by Van der Wilt, which depicts a girl leaning out of an identical arched window, feeding a parakeet. That panel, of the same dimensions, was sold in these Rooms on 26 June 1974, lot 51, but if the paintings were originally a pair they must have been separated by at least 1801, when the present picture was sold at Christie's.