Provenance
Richard Lovell Edgeworth [1744-1817], Edgeworthstown, co. Longford, Ireland; by inheritance to his daughter, Maria Edgeworth [1767-1849], Edgeworthstown; by inheritance to her half-brother, Charles Sneyd Edgeworth [d. 1864], Edgeworthstown; by inheritance to Maria's and Charles' half-nephew, Prof. Francis Ysidro Edgeworth [1845-1926];[1] Acquired 1929 by (Julius Böhler, Munich);[2] purchased 1930 by (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London and New York);[3] sold May 1936 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[4] gift 1939 to NGA.
[1] The catalogue of the 1930 exhibition in London gives the provenance as "Professor Edgeworth, Edgeworthstown, Ireland." A more detailed list of the previous owners is given in _Duveen Pictures in Public Collections of America_, New York, 1941: no. 42. On the Edgeworth family see _The Dictionary of National Biography. The Concise Dictionary_, Part 1, Oxford, 1953: 384, and Part 2, Oxford, 1961: 131. Julius Böhler sent Joseph Duveen a postcard of "Edgeworthstown House" and wrote in the postscript to the accompanying letter: "I am sorry I cannot give you more than the enclosed postcard regarding the pedigree of the Domenico Veneziano. This is the place and the people the picture comes from. I know nothing more and the picture was the only picture in the place." (Copy in NGA curatorial files; Box 299, Folder 1, Duveen Brothers Records, accession number 960015, Research Library, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles).
[2] Böhler Inventory card no. 226-29, Getty Research Institute gives source as "Sarasota." (copy NGA curatorial file).
[3] Correspondence between Böhler and Joseph Duveen in the Duveen Brothers Records documents the purchase from the 1930 exhibition (copies in NGA curatorial files; Box 299, Folder 1, Duveen Brothers Records, accession number 960015, Research Library, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles).
[4] The Duveen Brothers letter confirming the sale of thirteen paintings and one sculpture, including NA 1939.1.221, is dated 18 May 1936; the provenance is given as "Prof. Edgeworth Coll'n" (copy in NGA curatorial files; Box 474, Folder 5, Duveen Brothers Records, accession number 960015, Research Library, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles). See also The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/1326.
Accession Number
1939.1.221
Medium
tempera on poplar panel
Dimensions
overall: 83 x 57 cm (32 11/16 x 22 7/16 in.) | framed: 124.5 x 100.3 x 9.8 cm (49 x 39 1/2 x 3 7/8 in.)
Classification
Painting
Credit Line
Samuel H. Kress Collection