Still Life with Cat and Fish
- 118
L’Exposition artistique et archéologique , Poitiers, France, May 14–July
14, 1887, no. 1042, as Chats et Poissons.
Die Hauptwerke der Sammlung Hahnloser, Winterthur, Kunstmuseum,
Lucerne, Switzerland, 1940, no. 35, as Le chat et les harengs.
De Watteau à Cezanne , Musée d’art et d’histoire, Geneva, July 7–September
30, 1951, no. 10, as Le Chat et les Harengs.
A Bountiful Decade: Selected Acquisitions, 1977–1987, The Nelson-Atkins
Museum of Art, Kansas City, October 14–December 6, 1987, no. 45, as Still
Life with Cat and Fish.
Probably Georges Alexis Bertrand Rémond (d. 1778), Saint-Julien-les-Villas, France, by May 3, 1778;
Probably purchased at his posthumous sale, Tableaux Originaux des Grands Maîtres Des Écoles d’Italie, des Pays-Bas, et de France, après décès de M. Rémond, ancien Maître-d’Hôtel du Roi Louis XV, rue Villedot, Paris, July 6, 1778, no. 74, as Deux tableaux sur toile, chacun de 30 pouces de haut, sur 20 de large; dans l’un on voit une raye, des huîtres et un chat; dans l’autre un chat, de la raye et deux merlans , by the dealer Jacques Langlier, Paris, 1778;
Probably Armand Frédéric Ernest Nogaret (1734–1806), by July 21, 1806 [1];
Probably purchased at his posthumous sale, Tableaux, Dessins, Marbres, Bronzes et Autres Objets d’Arts: Provenans du Cabinet de feu M. Armand-Frédéric-Ernest Nogaret, ancien Trésorier du ci-devant Comte d’Artois, etc. , chez M. Thierry, chez MM. Jacques et Antoine Langlier, and hôtel de Gesvres, Paris, April 6, 1807, no. 5 or 6, as Divers poissons et un chat or Autre tableau de même genre, faisant pendant du précédent, by an unknown buyer;
Dominique Vincent Ramel-Nogaret (called Ramel de Nogaret, 1760–1829), Montolieu, Aude, Languedoc-Roussillon, France, by 1816 [2];
Transferred to his brother-in-law, Jean Antoine Bories (1763–1848), Montolieu, Aude, Languedoc-Roussillon, France, 1816–July 17, 1848 [3];
By descent to his son, Jacques-Pierre-François Bories (1819–1886), Montolieu, Aude, Languedoc-Roussillon, France, 1848–1865;
Purchased from Jacques-Pierre-François Bories by Charles Philippe Adolphe (1822–1890), baron Lepic, Poitiers and Montolieu, Aude, Languedoc-Roussillon, France, 1865–May 11, 1890 [4];
Possibly inherited by his wife, Claire Lepic (née Dauphole, 1836–1907), 1890–1897;
Purchased at Lepic’s posthumous sale, Beaux Meubles Louis XV et Louis XVI en laque et en marqueterie, enrichis de cuivres ciselés; Consoles et Glaces; Fauteuils en Tapisserie; Pendules et Appliques; Faïences françaises, Porcelaines, Jades et Objets varies; Tenture Chinoise en Soie peinte; et des Tableaux Anciens par Breughel de Velours, Chardin, Desportes, De Troy, Van der Meulen, J.-B. Oudry, Rigaud, et tout provenant de la Collection de Feu M. le Baron Lepic , Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, June 18, 1897, no. 7, as L’Office, by [Armand] Levy [5];
Sigismond Bardac (1856–1919), Paris, by 1908–at least 1911 [6];
Alphonse Kann (1870–1948), Paris, no later than December 6, 1920;
Purchased at his sale, Catalogue des Tableaux–Dessins–Pastels, Principalement du XVIIIe siècle des Écoles Anglaise, Française et Italienne, Sculptures du XVIIIe Siècle En Marbre, Terre-cuite, Plâte, Bronze; Objets d’Art et d’Ameublement; Porcelaines et Matières dure montées en bronze, Orfèvrerie, Bois sculptés, Cadres, Gaînes, Poêle en faïence, Objets divers; Bronzes d’Ameublement, Pendules; Appliques, Baromètres, Cadres, Chenets, Candélabres, Flambeaux, etc.; Sieges et Meubles En Bois sculpté, Bois doré et Marqueterie, la plupart signés des Maîtres-Ebénistes du XVIIIe Siècle, Paravent, Ecrans et Sièges en tapisserie et savonnerie, etc. Composant la Collection de M. A. Kann , Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, December 6–8, 1920, no. 9, as Les harengs, probably by Arthur (1870–1936) and Hedy (1873–1952) Hahnloser-Bühler, Winterthur, Switzerland, 1920–no later than 1952 [7];
By descent to their son, Hans Robert Hahnloser (1899–1974), Bern, Switzerland, by July 7, 1951–no later than 1964 [8];
Purchased from Hahnloser by E. V. Thaw, New York, by 1974 [9];
Purchased from David Carritt, Ltd., London, and E. V. Thaw, New York, by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1979.
NOTES:
[1] The Chardin pendants are in Nogaret’s posthumous inventory drawn up by the dealer Jacques Langlier (1732–1814) and the deceased’s heir, Dominique-Vincent Ramel-Nogaret (called Ramel de Nogaret). “Inventaire après décès d’Armand NOGARET, 21 juillet 1806,” Archives nationales, Paris, MC/ET/CXV/1075. The description of the painting is not definitive enough to undisputedly claim it is the Nelson-Atkins painting. However, Langlier was the likely link between the Rémond sale, where the dealer was the buyer, and the Nogaret collection. The provenance of the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza related pendant pair, which claims Rémond and Nogaret as constituents, is based on Georges Wildenstein catalogues raisonnés of 1933 and 1969, but Nelson-Atkins research revealed this to be incorrect.
[2] Ramel de Nogaret was the heir of Armand Nogaret, but he did not inherit all of Armand’s art collection. It is likely that Ramel de Nogaret purchased the paintings by Chardin, as well as by Desportes, and Oudry, from the 1807 posthumous Nogaret sale. Later, these still lifes definitively appear in the collection of Baron Lepic, who had purchased the collection once owned by Ramel de Nogaret in 1865. The Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza claims their related pendant pair was in the 1807 posthumous sale based on the Georges Wildenstein catalogues raisonnés of 1933 and 1969, but Nelson-Atkins research revealed this to be incorrect.
[3] In 1816, Ramel de Nogaret and his wife were exiled to Belgium by the restored Bourbon regime for his role in the Directory and his support of the reign of Emperor Napoleon I. He was forced to transfer his property in Montolieu to Bories, his brother-in-law. See M. [Alphonse Jacques] Mahul, Cartulaire et Archives des Communes de l’ancien diocese et de l’arrondissment administrative de Carcassone , vol. 1 (Paris: Didron, 1857), 153, where Bories is listed as the inheritor of “Petit Versailles” in 1816. Bories’ son was listed as the owner of the property in 1857.
[4] See the preface of the June 18, 1897 sales catalogue. Reproductions in the catalogue show that the paintings in the Lepic sale are unmistakeably the Nelson-Atkins and Glasgow pictures. See also Pierre Rosenberg, “A Chardin for Kansas City,” trans. Ursula Korneitchouk, Bulletin (The Nelson Gallery and Atkins Museum) 5, no. 6 (January 1981): 28.
[5] See the handwritten annotation, “Levy”, in the sales catalogue housed at the Bibliothèque nationale français, Paris. This is presumably Armand Levy, a Parisian art dealer who was also active on the city’s musical scene.
[6] See Jean Guiffrey, Catalogue raisonné de l’œuvre peint et dessiné de J.-B. Siméon Chardin (1699–1769), Suivi de la liste des gravures exécutées d'après ses ouvrages (Paris: Imprimerie G. Kadar, 1908), 96, which is the earliest text to identify Bardac as the owner of both the Nelson-Atkins and Glasgow pictures. Bardac and Levy are cited together in one account of the provenance of the painting by Circle of Jacques–Louis David, Portrait of a Young Woman in White, ca. 1798, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, thereby hinting that Levy may have sold the Nelson-Atkins painting to Bardac.
[7] According to a photo sheet from the Duits collection at the Getty Research Institute, the painting was purchased at the 1920 sale by “Hambloser.” This is probably a misspelling of Hahnloser, since Arthur and Hedy Hahnloser owned the painting at the time of the 1940 Die Hauptwerke der Sammlung Hahnloser, Winterthur exhibition in Lucerne. See The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Photo Archive, French, Chardin, Jean Baptiste-Simeon (1699–1779), Paintings, Still Life cont., 76.P.55, Box 231. Dr. Margrit Hahnloser-Ingold does not deny that Hedy Hahnloser-Bühler was the buyer at the 1920 sale, see email from Dr. Margrit Hahnloser-Ingold to Glynnis Stevenson, NAMA, July 23, 2020, NAMA curatorial files.
[8] A verso label for the exhibition De Watteau à Cezanne, Musée d’art et d’histoire, Geneva, July 7–September 30, 1951, lists “Madame H. Hahnloser / Tösstalstrasse 42 / Wintherthour [sic]” as the lender. However a pen inscription corrects this to list “Hans-Bernhard / Hahnloser / Bern” as the lender.
See emails from Dr. Margrit Hahnloser-Ingold to MacKenzie Mallon, NAMA, March 13, 2014, and to Glynnis Stevenson, NAMA, July 23, 2020, NAMA curatorial files, where she states that Hans Hahnloser gave the painting to a dealer named Burchard and confirms that Burchard came from Egypt. This is probably the Swiss painter and dealer Irmgard Micaela Burchard Simaika (1908–1964). She married the Egyptian mathematician, Jacques Boulos Simaika (1914–1994), in 1952, and moved to Cairo.
According to Pierre Rosenberg, Hans Hahnloser showed the painting to him in Paris in 1969. See Pierre Rosenberg, “A Chardin for Kansas City,” trans. Ursula Korneitchouk, Bulletin (The Nelson Gallery and Atkins Museum) 5, no. 6 (January 1981): 25.
[9] See email from Patricia Tang, E. V. Thaw and Co., to MacKenzie Mallon, NAMA, February 27, 2014, NAMA curatorial files, where she states that Thaw purchased the painting from Hahnloser’s heirs. This is probably a reference to Hans Hahnloser, son and heir of Arthur and Hedy Hahnloser-Bühler.
Possibly Pierre Rémy, Catalogue de Tableaux Originaux des Grands Maîtres Des Écoles d'Italie, des Pays-Bas, et de France, après décès de M. Rémond, ancien Maître-d’Hôtel du Roi Louis XV (Paris: Musier, July 6, 1778), 26, as Deux tableaux sur toile, chacun de 30 pouces de haut, sur 20 de large; dans l’un on voit une raye, des huîtres et un chat; dans l’autre un chat, de la raye et deux merlans .
Possibly Catalogue des Tableaux, Dessins, Marbres, Bronzes et Autres Objets d’Arts, Provenans [sic] du Cabinet de feu M. Armand-Frédéric-Ernest Nogaret, ancien Trésorier du ci-devant Comte d’Artois, etc. ([Paris: Thierry et Langlier, April 6, 1807]), 1, as Divers poissons et un chat or Autre tableau de même genre, faisant pendant du précédent.
Emmanuel Bocher, Les gravures françaises du XVIII siècle, ou, Catalogue raisonné des estampes, eaux-fortes, pièces en couleur, au bistre et au lavis, de 1700 à 1800. Troisième fascicule, Jean-Baptiste Siméon Chardin (Paris: Librairie des Bibliophiles, 1876), 111, as Divers poissons et un chat.
Edmond and Jules de Goncourt, L’art du XVIIIe siècle, series 1, Watteau, Chardin, La Tour, Boucher (Paris: Bibliothèque Charpentier, 1881), 187.
Catalogue de l’exposition artistique et archéologique , exh. cat. (Poitiers, France: Imprimerie Millet, Descoust et Pain, 1887), 73, as Chats et Poissons.
[Albert] Tornézy, “La Peinture Ancienne à l’Exposition Artistique de Poitiers en 1887,” Bulletin de la Société des Antiquaires de l’Ouest, [Poiters] 4 (1889): 363, as Chats et poissons.
“Échos: A [sic] travers Paris,” Le Figaro, no. 166 (June 15, 1897): 1.
“At the Petit Gallery: Exhibition of the Furniture and Pictures of the Late Baron Lepic,” New York Herald, no. 22,213 (June 16, 1897): 2.
Catalogue des Beaux Meubles Louis XV et Louis XVI En laque et en marqueterie, enrichis de cuivres ciselés; Consoles et Glaces; Fauteuils en Tapisserie; Pendules et Appliques; Faiences françaises, Porcelaines, Jades et Objets varies; Tenture Chinoise en Soie peinte; et des Tableaux Anciens par Breughel de Velours, Chardin, Desportes, De Troy, Van der Meulen, J.–B. Oudry, Rigaud, et tout provenant de la Collection de Feu M. le Baron Lepic (Paris: Galerie Georges Petit, June 18, 1897), 9, (repro.), as L’Office.
“Chronique,” La Correspondance historique et archéologique 4 (1897): 183, as L’Office.
“Échos: Vente du baron Lepic,” L’Art pour tous: encyclopédie de l’art industriel et décoratif, no. 138 (June 1897): unpaginated, as L’Office.
“The Lepic Sale: Sensational Prices Made by the Antique Furniture of the Late Baron,” International Herald Tribune, no. 22,216 (June 19, 1897): 2, as L’Office.
“Revue des Ventes,” Gazette de l’Hôtel Drouot, nos. 170–172 (June 19–21, 1897): 1, as L’Office.
“Les On-Dit,” Le Rappel, no. 9963 (June 20, 1897): unpaginated, as L’Office.
“Les On-Dit,” Le XIXe siècle (June 20, 1897): unpaginated.
“Mouvement des arts,” La Chronique des arts et de la curiosité, no. 24 (June 26, 1897): 230, as L’Office.
Hippolyte Mireur, Dictionnaire des Ventes d’Art en France et à l’Étranger pendant les XVIIIe et XIXe Siècles, vol. 2 (Paris: Louis Soullié, 1902), 150, as L’Office.
Armand Dayot and Jean Guiffrey, J. B. Siméon Chardin, avec une catalogue complet de l’œuvre du mâitre, part 2 (Paris: l’Édition d’Art, H. Piazza, [1907]), 50, as L’Office.
Jean Guiffrey, Catalogue raisonné de l’œuvre peint et dessiné de J.-B. Siméon Chardin (1699–1769), Suivi de la liste des gravures exécutées d’après ses ouvrages (Paris: Imprimerie G. Kadar, 1908), 50, 96, as L’Office and Le Larron en bonne fortune.
Herbert E. A. Furst, Chardin (London: Methuen, 1911), 123, as Le Larron en Bonne Fortune.
Catalogue des Tableaux-Dessins-Pastels, Principalement du XVIIIe siècle des Écoles Anglaise, Française et Italienne, Sculptures du XVIIIe Siècle En Marbre, Terre-cuite, Plâte, Bronze; Objets d’Art et d’Ameublement; Porcelaines et Matières dure montées en bronze, Orfèvrerie, Bois sculptés, Cadres, Gaînes, Poêle en faïence, Objets divers; Bronzes d’Ameublement, Pendules; Appliques, Baromètres, Cadres, Chenets, Candélabres, Flambeaux, etc.; Sieges et Meubles En Bois sculpté, Bois doré et Marqueterie, la plupart signés des Maîtres-Ebénistes du XVIIIe Siècle, Paravent, Ecrans et Sièges en tapisserie et savonnerie, etc. Composant la Collection de M. A. Kann (Paris: Galerie Georges Petit, December 6–8, 1920), 9–11, (repro.), as Les harengs.
“Le Carnet d’un curieux: Vente Alphonse Kann,”La Renaissance de l’art français et des industries de luxe, no. 12 (December 1920): 539, as les Harengs.
“La Collection Alphonse Kann,” Comœdia, no. 2,913 (December 7, 1920): 3, as les Harengs.
“La Curiosité,” Excelsior, no. 3,648 (December 7, 1920): 4.
“La Curiosité,” Journal des débats politiques et littéraires, no. 329 (December 8, 1920), 3, as Les Harengs.
L. Maurice, “Les Ventes,” L’Intransigeant, no. 14,735 (December 8, 1920): 2, as Les Harengs.
H.R., “La Curiosité: La collection Kann,” La Liberté, no. 21,969 (December 8, 1920): 2, as Les Harengs.
La Rivandière, “Notes d’un curieux: Collection Alphonse Kann,”Le Gaulois, no. 45,773 (December 10, 1920): 3, as Les Harengs.
“Recent Paris Art Sales,” American Art News 19, no. 14 (January 15, 1921): 9, as Les harengs.
Georges Wildenstein, Chardin (Paris: Les Beaux-Arts, Édition d’études et de documents, 1933), no. 683 bis, pp. 154, 206–07, as Le Larron en bonne fortune.
Paul Hilber and Hedy Hahnloser-Bühler,Die Hauptwerke der Sammlung Hahnloser, Winterthur, exh. cat. (Basel: Holbein-Verlag, 1940), 8, 16, as Le chat et les harengs.
De Watteau à Cézanne, exh. cat. (Geneva: Musée d’art et d’histoire, 1951), 13, as Le chat et les harengs.
Georges and Daniel Wildenstein, Chardin: Catalogue Raisonné, rev. ed. (Oxford, UK: Bruno Cassirer, 1969), p. 240, as Le larron en bonne fortune.
Marietta Dunn, “Master Paintings Added to Gallery,” Kansas City Star 99, no. 180 (April 15, 1979): [1]E, 8E, (repro.), as Cat with Hake.
Donald Hoffmann, “Gallery Visitors, Revenues Down,”Kansas City Star 99, no. 270 (July 29, 1979): 28A, as Still Life with Cat.
Donald Hoffmann, “Intensity and nuance: the Nelson’s new pastels,” Sunday Star Magazine of the Kansas City Star, supplement, Kansas City Star 100, no. 77 (December 16, 1979): 27.
“Principales acquisitions des musées en 1979,” La Chronique des Arts: supplément à la Gazette des Beaux-Arts 95, no. 1334 (March 1980): 35–36, (repro.), as Nature morte au poisson et au chat.
Pierre Rosenberg, “A Chardin for Kansas City,” trans. Ursula Korneitchouk, Bulletin (The Nelson Gallery and Atkins Museum) 5, no. 6 (January 1981): 20–21, 24–25, 27–33, 34n8, 35, 36n30, (repro.), as Still Life with Cat and Fish.
Donald Hoffmann, “Benefactors’ gifts help keep inflation at bay at the Nelson,” Kansas City Star 101, no. 225 (June 7, 1981): 1F.
Bill Marvel, “How good is the Nelson?” STAR Magazine, supplement, Kansas City Star 103, no. 186 (April 24, 1983): S23, as Still Life with Fish and a Cat.
Donald Hoffmann, “Art journal: This preservation exhibit is better late,” Kansas City Star 103, no. 292 (August 28, 1983): 8E.
Laura Babcock, “The Nelson Art Gallery: A salute to the past,” Kansas City Star 104, no. 19 (October 9, 1983): 2F, as Cat with Hake.
Pierre Rosenberg, L’opera completa di Chardin: presentazione e apparati critici e filologici di Pierre Rosenberg (Milan: Rizzoli, 1983), 66, 75, 123, 128, (repro.), as Gatto con pezzo di salmone due sgombri, tre datteri di mare e frutta.
Pierre Rosenberg, Tout l’œuvre peint de Chardin (Paris: Flammarion, 1983), 66, 75, 123, 128, (repro.), as Chat avec Tranche de Saumon, Deux Maquereaux, Trois Moules et Fruit .
“1986 Annual Report,” Groupe Bruxelles Lamberts s.a. GBL (1986): 14, 62–63, (repro.), as Chat avec tranche de saumon et deux maquereaux.
“Lunch break: Eighteenth-century French painting,” Calendar of Events (The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art) (December 1986): 7, (repro.), as Still Life with Cat and Fish.
Roger Ward, ed., A Bountiful Decade: Selected Acquisitions, 1977–1987, exh. cat. (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1987), 110–11, (repro.), as Still Life with Cat and Fish.
René Démoris, Chardin, la chair et l’objet (Paris: Adam Biro, 1991), 50–51, as le Larron en bonne fortune.
Roger Ward and Patricia J. Fidler, eds., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection (New York: Hudson Hills Press, in association with Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1993), 130, 182, (repro.), as Still Life with Cat and Fish.
Burton B. Frederickson and Benjamin Peronnet, Répertoire des tableaux vendus en France au XIXe siècle, vol. 1 (Los Angeles: Provenance Index of the Getty Information Institute, 1998), 300, as Divers poissons et un chat.
Pierre Rosenberg and Renaud Temperini, Chardin: suivi du catalogue des œuvres (Paris: Flammarion, 1999), no. 29A, pp. 201, 317, (repro.), as Chat avec tranche de saumon, deux maquereaux, trois moules et fruit.
Pierre Rosenberg, Chardin, trans. Caroline Beamish, exh. cat. (London: Royal Academy of Arts, 2000), 131.
Pierre Rosenberg, Chardin, exh. cat. (Paris: Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 1999), 131.
Deborah Emont Scott, ed., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection, 7th ed. (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2008), XIV, 34, 91, (repro.), as Still Life with Cat and Fish.
Pierre Rosenberg, Chardin: Il pittore del silenzio, exh. cat. (Ferrara: Fondazione Cassa de Risparmio di Ferrara, 2010), 82, (repro.), as Gatto con trancio di salmone, due sgombri, tre cozze e frutta.
Richard Rand, “Jean Siméon Chardin, Still Life with Cat and Fish, 1728,” catalogue entry, and Diana M. Jaskierny, “Jean Siméon Chardin, Still Life with Cat and Fish, 1728,” technical entry, in French Paintings and Pastels, 1600–1945: The Collections of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Aimee Marcereau DeGalan, ed., (Kansas City: The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2021), https://doi.org/10.37764/78973.5.310.5407.
Julian Zugazagoitia and Laura Spencer. Director's Highlights: The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art Celebrating 90 Years, ed. Kaitlyn Bunch (The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2024), 107, (repro.).
