The Adoration of the Magi

Possibly Pierre-Charles, marquis du Plessis-Villette (1700-1765), Paris, by April 8, 1765;

Possibly purchased at his sale, Tableaux, de Diffe’rens Bons Maîtres des Trois Écoles, De Figures de Bronze, de Bustes de Marbre, d’Estampes montées sous verre, et d’Estampes en Feuilles, après le Décès de M. le Marquis de Villette, Pere [sic], l’Hôtel d’Elbeuf, rue de Vaugirard, Paris, April 8, 1765, lot 30, as Sébastien Bourdon, Une Adoration des Rois, by Jean-Baptiste-Pierre Le Brun (1748-1813), Paris, 1765 [1];

Possibly purchased at the sale of M. ***, Tableaux du Cabinet de Monsieur ***. Sçavoir, Tableaux, Desseins, Estampes, Bronzes, Bustes de marbre, Gaînes de marbre et de bois, Porcelaines différentes, montées et non montées, Meubles, Pendules, Feux, Bras de cheminées, Secrétaires, etc., Hôtel des Américains, rue Saint Honoré, Paris, December 15, 1766, lot 16, as Sébastien Bourdon, l’Adoration des Rois, by Pierre-François Basan (1723-1797), Paris, 1766 [2];

Possibly le Doux Collection, by 1775 [3];

Possibly purchased at his sale, Une Précieuse Collection de Tableaux, Bronzes, Marbres, Porcelaines, Lacques, Pierres gravées et autres Pierres précieuses, Meubles et objets de curiosité, Provenans du Cabinet de M. le Doux., Maison de Saint Louis, rue Saint Antoine, Paris, April 24, 1775, lot 46, as Sébastien Bourdon, L’adoration des Rois, by Feullet, Paris, 1775 [4];

Possibly Joseph-Hyacinthe-François de Paule de Rigaud, Comte de Vaudreuil (1740-1817), Paris, by 1787;

Possibly purchased at his sale, Une Très-Belle Collection de Tableaux, d’Italie de Flandres, de Hollande, et de France […] Provenans du Cabinet de M. ***., grande Salle, 96 rue de Cléry, Paris, November 26, 1787, lot 42, as Sébastien Bourdon, L’Adoration des Rois, by Jean-Baptiste-Pierre Le Brun, for Laurent Grimod de La Reynière (1734-1793), 1787-April 3, 1793 [5];

Possibly purchased at his sale, Tableaux Formant le Cabinet de M. de Lareynière; Composé en partie des Tableaux des plus grands Maîtres de l’Ecole Française: on y distingue, par-dessus tout, les chef-d’œuvres de l’immortel Lemoyne, les seuls, pour ainsi dire, qui soient connus., Salle de Vente, 96 rue de Cléry, Paris, April 3, 1793, lot 8, as Sébastien Bourdon, L’adoration des Rois, by Defer, 1793 [6];

Possibly purchased at the sale of M. ***, Une Belle Collection de Tableaux des Trois Écoles, Et autres Objets curieux; du Cabinet de M. ***, ancien hôtel Notre-Dame, rue du Bouloy, Paris, June 16, 1797, lot 6, as Sébastien Bourdon, l’Adoration des Mages, by Trudaine, 1797 [7];

Laurens Collection, Montpellier [8];

With André de Haspe, Paris, by May 15, 1961-June 2, 1961 [9];

Purchased from de Haspe by Germain Seligman (1893-1978), New York, June 2, 1961-March 27, 1978 [10];

Possibly inherited by his wife, Ethlyne Jackson Seligman (1906-1993), New York, 1978 [11];

Purchased at Important Paintings by Old Masters, Christie’s, New York, June 5, 1980, lot 29, as attributed to Sébastien Bourdon, The Adoration of the Magi, by Robert L. Bloch, Shawnee Mission, KS, 1980-1985;

Given by Mr. and Mrs. Robert L. Bloch to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1985.

NOTES:

[1] Annotated sales catalogue at the Bibliothèque Publique et Universitaire, Geneva, records “LeBrun” as the buyer. It is unclear whether the painting in this sale was the Nelson-Atkins’ or the version attributed to Bourdon in the collection of the Rijksmuseum Twenthe, Enschede.

[2] Annotated sales catalogue at the Bibliothèque Publique et Universitaire, Geneva, records “Basan” as the buyer. It is unclear whether the painting in the sale was the Nelson-Atkins’ or the version attributed to Bourdon in the collection of the Rijksmuseum Twenthe, Enschede.

[3] M. le Doux may have been Paul-Guillaume Ledoux (d. 1781), a painter at the Académie de Saint-Luc who was active as a dealer from the early-1750s through the mid-1770s.

[4] Annotated sales catalogue at the Bibliothèque municipale de Versailles records “Feullet” (believed to be a misspelling of “Feuillet”) as the buyer. Between 1768 and 1784, a buyer named “Feuillet” bid on 249 works of art in 49 different sales. This may have been Jean-Baptiste Feuillet (d. 1806), a director of the Académie de Saint-Luc and well-known dealer. It is unclear whether the painting in this sale was the Nelson-Atkins’ or the version attributed to Bourdon in the collection of the Rijksmuseum Twenthe, Enschede.

[5] Annotated sales catalogues at the Bibliothèque d’Art et d’Archéologie, Paris; the Bibliothèque Municipale, Orléans; and the British Museum, London, record “LeBrun” as the buyer. Lebrun acted as an agent for Grimod de La Reynière. It is unclear whether the painting in the sale was the Nelson-Atkins’ or the version attributed to Bourdon in the collection of the Rijksmuseum Twenthe, Enschede. The version featured in this sale was subsequently sold in the Grimod de La Reynière sale; see description for lot 8.

[6] Annotated sales catalogue at the Bibliothèque d’Art et d’Archéologie, Paris, records “Defer” as the buyer of lots 8 and 14. Lot 14 was later resold at Radix de Sainte-Foy’s sale on January 16, 1811 (lot 33), and an annotated sales catalogue at the Bibliothèque d’Art et d’Archéologie, Paris, records “de Fer de Lanoray” in the provenance of lot 33. “De Fer de Lanoray” may thus be the full name of the buyer that purchased lot 8 at the Grimod de La Reynière sale.

[7] Annotated sales catalogue at the Bibliothèque Publique et Universitaire, Geneva, records the buyer as “Trudaine.” It is unclear whether the painting in the sale was the Nelson-Atkins’ or the version attributed to Bourdon in the collection of the Rijksmuseum Twenthe, Enschede.

[8] Per Jacques Seligmann & Co. records, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C., Series 12.2 “Private Art Collection,” Box 426, Folder 13. This collector is usually described as “Madame Laurens” in the literature.  

[9] See letter from André de Haspe to Germain Seligman, May 15, 1961, Jacques Seligmann & Co. records, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C., Series 1.3, General Correspondence (1913-1978), Box 29, Folder 21.

[10] Per Jacques Seligmann & Co. records, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C., Series 7.11.2 “Sales Ledgers, 1931-1973,” Box 331, Folder 5, no. 8637. Although the painting was assigned a stock number (no. 8637), Seligman purchased it for his private collection, not his gallery.

[11] Although most of Germain Seligman’s private collection was purchased by Artemis S. A. and E. V. Thaw and Co. and published in John Richardson, The Collection of Germain Seligman: Paintings, Drawings, and Works of Art (New York: E. V. Thaw, 1979), this painting may have been one of the few personal bequests Seligman made to his wife.