Purchased from the artist in April 1872 by (Durand-Ruel, Paris); sold 7 May 1873 to Jean-Baptiste Faure [1830-1914], Paris; sold 28 February 1881 to (Durand-Ruel, Paris);[1] Jules Féder, Paris. Erwin Davis, New York; (his sale, New York, 19 March 1889, no. 62, as _Before the Races_). (Cottier and Co., London and New York); sold 1894 to Peter A.B. Widener [d. 1915], Elkins Park, Pennsylvania; Inheritance from the Estate of Peter A. B. Widener by gift through power of appointment of Joseph E. Widener, Elkins Park; gift 1942 to NGA. [1]Information about Durand-Ruel stock numbers and sales dates according to Michael Pantazzi in _Degas_, exh. cat., Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Paris; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1988-1989, pp. 221-223, notes 9 and 23.