Provenance

• 1857: possibly commissioned by Charles Phelps Williams (1804-1879) of Stonington, Connecticut.

According to Thomas Armstrong (1832-1911), who was with Whistler in Paris in the late 1850s, Whistler was commissioned to paint copies after Jean Dominique Ingres (1780-1867) and Thomas Couture (1815-1879) (Copy after Ingres's 'Roger délivrant Angélique' [YMSM 011], Copy after a Group in Couture's 'Romains de la décadence' [YMSM 018]) and then 'two more pictures' in the Louvre collections chosen by his patron, whom Armstrong described as 'a whaling captain'. The copy of Mignard's painting may have been one of these (see also Copy after Greuze's 'La Cruche cassée' [YMSM 014], and Copy after 'La Réunion des cavaliers', of the School of Velázquez [YMSM 019]).

However, at least one painting was commissioned by William Richard ('Dick') Suydam Palmer (1834-1870). 1

Exhibitions

No exhibition is recorded.