Adriaen van Ostade

Buckston family, Sutton on the Hill, Derbyshire; (sale, Sotheby & Co., London, 5-6 May 1919, 2nd day, no. 285);[1] Brown, acting for (Thos. Agnew & Sons, Ltd., Arthur J. Sulley & Co., and Colnaghi & Co., London);[2] purchased 9 May 1919 by (M. Knoedler & Co., London and New York); sold 1 November 1919 to Andrew W. Mellon, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.;[3] deeded 28 December 1934 to The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh; gift 1937 to NGA. [1] In this auction the picture was listed as _Portrait of the Artist_ by Nicholas Berghem [Berchem]. The auction catalogue states that the painting was "The Property of a Gentleman". Francis Russell of Christie's kindly provided the name of the family that consigned the painting (letter of 10 March 2003 to Arthur Wheelock, in NGA curatorial files). [2] The fact that the purchase was by joint account of the three dealers is given in the Public Collections section of The Getty Provenance Index Databases. The painting was Agnew’s joint account number J-1817 and Colnaghi’s number A-720. Colnaghi also sold one third of their share to H.M. Clark. Christopher Kingzett of Agnew’s confirmed Agnew’s purchase of the painting at the 1919 sale, but does not mention the joint account with Sulley and Colnaghi (letter, 7 March 1984, to Arthur Wheelock, in NGA curatorial files). [3] Letter, 14 February 1984, Nancy Little, Librarian at M. Knoedler & Co., to Arthur Wheelock, in NGA curatorial files. Knoedler’s recorded their purchase as from Agnew’s; the painting was Knoedler stock number 14774.