Eustache Le Sueur

Probably commissioned directly from the artist by Jean-Baptiste Lambert (1608–1644), or his brother Nicolas Lambert de Thorigny (1613–1692), Hôtel Lambert, Paris;

Presumably by descent to the latter's grandson, Alexandre-Louis Lambert de Thorigny, until 12 April 1732;

From whom likely acquired by Marie-Anne-Armande Carton Fontaine (1684–1745) and her son-in-law Claude Dupin (1686–1769) and daughter Louise-Marie-Madeleine Fontaine (1706–1799), Hôtel Lambert, Paris, until 31 March 1739;

From whom acquired by Marquis Florent-Claude du Chastellet-Lomont (1695–1765) and his wife Gabrielle Émilie de Breteuil, Marquise du Châtelet (1706–1749), until 1745;

From whom acquired by Marin Delahaye (1684–1753), Hôtel Lambert, Paris, 1745–53;

Thence by inheritance to his brother, Marc-Antoine Delahaye de Bazinville (1702–1785), Hôtel Lambert, Paris;

Thence by descent to his daughter, Antoinette Marguerite Joseph Delahaye de Bazinville (1733–1813), Hôtel Fieubet, Paris;

Thence by descent until 2009;

By whom sold ('From the Hôtel Lambert'), Paris, Christie's, 23 June 2009, lot 88, for €1,353,000;

Where acquired by Noortman Master Paintings, Amsterdam;

By whom sold, New York, Sotheby's, 28 January 2016, lot 37, for $970,000;

Where acquired for the present collection.

Inventory listing in deed of purchase of Hôtel Lambert, Paris, 31 March 1739, Archives nationales, Minutier central, LXXXVIII–565, in Boyer 2012, p. 151;

Inventory of paintings from the collection of the deceased Marin Delahaye, Paris, 13 October 1753, Archives nationales, Minutier central, LVII–408, no. 1378, in Bailey 2001, p. 70;

C. Bailey, 'Poussin's L'enfance de Bacchus newly identified in two eighteenth-century collections', in Mélanges en hommage à Pierre Rosenberg, Paris 2001, p. 70, appendix I, no. 1378;

E. de Maintenant, 'Redécouverte d'une œuvre de jeunesse d'Eustache Le Sueur provenant de l'hôtel Lambert', in L'Estampille – Objet d'Art, no. 447, June 2009, pp. 26–27, reproduced in colour p. 26;

Paris Tableau, Le salon international de la peinture ancienne, exh. cat., Paris 2011, p. 14, reproduced in colour p. 14 (detail);

J-C. Boyer, 'Voltaire à l'hôtel Lambert, de Gomberville à Le Sueur', in Revue Voltaire, no. 12, 2012, pp. 147–61, reproduced p. 148, fig. 1.

Maastricht, TEFAF, 12 March – 21 March 2010 and 18 March – 27 March 2011;

Paris, Palais de la Bourse, Paris Tableau, Le salon international de la peinture ancienne, 4–8 November 2011.