Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn

Probably Constantyn Ranst, Amsterdam, in his inventory of 1714 (‘een klijnder stuck, synde de drie Koningen van Rembrandt’), and his sale, 17 May 1715, lot 1 (‘Een kapitael stuk, verbeeldende de drie Koningen uit het Oosten heerlyk en kragtig geschildert, door Rembrant van zyn beste trant’);

Probably with Alexis Delahante (d. 1837);

Probably his sale, London, Phillips, 2–3 June 1814, (first day’s sale), lot 40 (no measurements given), for 215 Guineas to Dr Rainer or John Morant (annotated copies of the catalogue give different buyer’s names);

Probably anonymous sale (either Monsieur Varoc or a Burgomaster residing in Rotterdam, although other lots seem to have been consigned anonymously by Delahante, including the Rembrandt and a Veronese of St. Jerome), London, Phillips, 28–29 June 1822, lot 179 (as ‘Rembrandt, The Adoration of the Magi, an extraordinary fine specimen of the master’);

Private collection, Paris (according to the Heldring catalogue of 1955);

Probably with Pierre Henri Landry (1898–1990), Paris, 1951;

With P. de Boer, Amsterdam, probably by 1951, possibly their stock number 4867 inscribed on the reverse of the photograph in the De Boer Archive, which is also annotated ‘Landry’;

From whom acquired by J.C.H. Heldring (1887–1962), Oosterbeek, by 1955;

By whom offered, London, Sotheby's, 27 March 1963, lot 13 (as Rembrandt) unsold at £3,800;

His widow, E.M. Heldring-Talma (1892–1985);

By whom sold, Amsterdam, Christie's, 3 December 1985, lot 155 (as circle of Rembrandt);

There acquired for a private family collection, Germany;

By whom sold, Amsterdam, Christie's (online), closed 6 October 2021, lot 7 (as circle of Rembrandt).

Possibly A. Bredius, in Oud Holland, 28, 1910, p. 15 (referring to the small Adoration of the Magi in the collection of Constantyn Ranst in 1714; see Provenance);

D. Hannema, Catalogue raisonné of the pictures in the collection of J.C.H. Heldring, Rotterdam 1955, no. 24, reproduced pl. 27 (as Rembrandt);

I.Q. van Regteren Altena, ‘Tekeningen van Rembrandt’, in Bulletin van het Rijksmuseum, 1956, pp. 57–58, reproduced fig. 2 (as Rembrandt);

J.G. van Gelder, ‘Probleme der Frühzeit und Überblick über neue Archivalische Funde’, in Kunstchronik, vol. 10, no. 5, May 1957, p. 120 (as Rembrandt, a little after 1627);

O. Benesch, The Drawings of Rembrandt, Oxford 1957, vol. VI, p. 424 (as Rembrandt, before 1626);

M.E. Houtzager, Werken uit de privé-collectie van J.C.H. Heldring te Oosterbeek, exh. cat., Utrecht 1960, no. 28, reproduced fig. 28 A–C (as Rembrandt);

K. Bauch, Der frühe Rembrandt und seine Zeit, Berlin 1960, pp. 231–32, reproduced fig. 193a (as Rembrandt pupil after 1630);

O. Benesch, The Drawings of Rembrandt, New York 1973, vol. I, p. 3, under 01B (as Rembrandt, before 1626);

W. Sumowski, Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler, Landau/ Pfalz 1983, vol. IV, p. 2963, no. 1979 (as studio [of Rembrandt] work of circa 1630).

Rotterdam, Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Kunstschatten uit Nederlandse verzamelingen, 19 June – 25 September 1955, no. 99, reproduced fig. 18 in the catalogue (as Rembrandt);

Delft, Prinsenhof, Kunst- en Antiekbeurs, Drie Rembrandts in de jaren 1953–1956 verkocht door de Kunsthandel P. de Boer Amsterdam, 10 August – 2 September 1956, unnumbered, reproduced (as Rembrandt);

Arnhem, Gemeentemuseum, Collectie J.C.H. Heldring te Oosterbeek, 6 April – 1 June 1958, no. 24, reproduced fig. 23 in the catalogue (as Rembrandt);

Utrecht, Centraal Museum, Werken uit de privé-collectie van J.C.H. Heldring te Oosterbeek, 25 May – 24 July 1960, no. 28 (as Rembrandt).