54.1 x 46 cm (21 5/16 x 18 1/8 in.)
Oil on canvas

Classification: Paintings
Type, sub-type: Genre - Exterior

On view in the: Ann and William Elfers Gallery (French Art 1700-1800)

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Bequest of Forsyth Wickes—The Forsyth Wickes Collection, 1965
Accession number: 65.2649

Provenance/Ownership History: Please note: The history of ownership is not definitive or comprehensive, as it is under constant review and revision by MFA curators and researchers.

By 1756, Ange-Laurent de la Live de Jully (b. 1725 - d. 1770), Paris [see note 1]; March 5, 1770, La Live de Jully sale, lot 79, to Sevin (?) [see note 2]. Until 1790, Pierre-Louis Eveillard, Marquis de Livois (b. 1736 - d. 1790), Paris [see note 3]. M. le Marquis de la Rochefoucauld-Bayers, Paris [see note 4]. By 1909, David David-Weill (b. 1871 - d. 1952), Neuilly-sur-Seine, France [see note 5]; 1937, sold by David-Weill to Wildenstein and Company, New York [see note 6]; sold by Wildenstein to a private collector [see note 7]. By 1945, Jacques Helft Gallery, New York; February 1, 1945, sold by Jacques Helft to Forsyth Wickes (b. 1876 - d. 1964), New York and Newport, RI; 1965, bequest of Forsyth Wickes to the MFA. (Accession Date: January 8, 1969)

NOTES:
[1] In 1756, the painting was engraved by P. E. Moitte, who dedicated his work to La Live de Jully. The painting is also included in La Live de Jully's collection catalogue of 1764; see Colin B. Bailey, "Ange-Laurent de la Live de Jully: A Facsimile Reprint of the Catalogue Historique (1764) and the Catalogue Raisonné des Tableaux (March 5, 1770)" (New York, 1988), p. 37. It is a replica of a larger painting by Lancret, "Luncheon with Ham" (Chantilly, Musée Condé), commissioned by King Louis XV in 1735. It has been suggested that La Live de Jully commissioned the MFA painting, but given its approximate date this is not likely, as he was only ten years old in 1735.

[2] The buyer's name is noted by Gabriel Henriot, "Collection David Weill," vol. 1, pt. 2 (Paris, 1927), p. 224.

[3] The painting is said to have been no. 192 in Eveillard de Livois's posthumous inventory of 1791; see Henriot, 1927 (as above, n. 2).

[4] Henriot, 1927 (as above, n. 2).

[5] A label on the reverse of the painting indicates that David David-Weill lent it to an exhibition of French art in London, 1909. David-Weill was an important figure in the art world, forming a large collection of eighteenth-century French paintings and sculpture and other works of art, as well as serving as the President du Conseil des Musées de France. In 1937 he sold many objects from his collection to Wildenstein and Company (see below, n. 6). Subsequently, when France fell to Germany in 1940, David-Weill fled Paris. At this time, much of his collection was seized by the Nazis. Many of these objects were returned to him following the war. Because this painting had been sold to Wildenstein in 1937, it was not among David-Weill's possessions during World War II and was not subject to Nazi looting.

[6] See "Sale of the David-Weill Collection," Art News, February 27, 1937, p. 12 and "David-Weill Pictures Come to New York," Art Digest, vol. 12, no. 3 (November 1, 1937), p. 13.

[7] According to a letter of February 1, 1945 from Jacques Helft & Co. to Forsyth Wickes.

This object is included in the following Selected Tour(s):

• All European Paintings
• MFA Images: Feasts
• MFA Images: Picnics
• Invitations
• Thanksgiving