Details
Oil on canvas
85,2 x 68,3 cm (33 ½ x 26 7/8 in.) without frame
92,3 x 109,3 cm (36 ¼ x 43 cm) with frame
Provenance
Léon Zamaron (1872‑1955), Paris
André Seligmann (1898‑1945), Paris
Looted by the Nazis on September 14th 1941 under the reference Sel. 167 and transferred to the Jeu de Paume
Restituted on May 8th 1946
Private collection, United States of America
Literature
Chefs d’œuvre de l’art français, cat. ex., Paris, Palais national des Arts
(19th July 1937‑31st October 1937), pp. 66‑67, n. 126, as “Anonymous”
Exhibition
Chefs d’œuvre de l’art français, Paris, Palais national des Arts, 19th July 1937‑31st October 1937
Peintres français du XVIIe siècle, Paris, galerie Manteau, 1936
This singular and mysterious painting was exhibited in 1937 under the title “Le Montreur de tours” and was considered by its then owner, the art dealer André Seligmann, to be by the hand of Georges de La Tour. Today, its attribution remains uncertain though it was probably executed by an anonymous artist in the circle of the Lorraine master.
It has been recently linked to a drawing formerly in the Beurdeley collection. At the time of the Beurdeley sale in 1920, the drawing, which was needle-stitched for transfer and certainly used as the cartoon for the present painting, was attributed to Michelangelo.