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Lot Essay
This picture has an interesting provenance. It was owned by Monsieur Nourri, a Conseiller to the Grand Conseil, the Superior Court of Justice during the Ancien Regime. He formed a prestigious picture collection, which included Italian, French, Dutch and Flemish painting as well as oil sketches and drawings. On his death in 1785 the entire collection was auctioned over several weeks in Paris. Among the many works on offer, in addition to the present picture, was a drapery study by Leonardo da Vinci (now in the Musée du Louvre, inv. no. 2255) and Eustache Le Sueur's The Rape of Tamar (now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wrightsman Gift, 1884.342).
At the sale this Teniers is recorded as being purchased by a M. Robit, however, it quickly passed into the collection of Peter Isaac Thelluson, a wealthy London merchant, of Huguenot descent. He sat as a Member of Parliament in a number of constituencies that reflected the family's burgeoning financial and business interests, including Midhurst from 1795-96, Malmesbury from 1796-1802, and finally Bossiney from 1807-8. In 1806 he was raised to the Irish Peerage as the 1st Baron Rendlesham of Rendlesham. This work was among the pictures sold at auction after his death in 1808.
At the sale this Teniers is recorded as being purchased by a M. Robit, however, it quickly passed into the collection of Peter Isaac Thelluson, a wealthy London merchant, of Huguenot descent. He sat as a Member of Parliament in a number of constituencies that reflected the family's burgeoning financial and business interests, including Midhurst from 1795-96, Malmesbury from 1796-1802, and finally Bossiney from 1807-8. In 1806 he was raised to the Irish Peerage as the 1st Baron Rendlesham of Rendlesham. This work was among the pictures sold at auction after his death in 1808.