Villeneuve-les-Avignon

Sold at the posthumous sale of Corot's works at Hôtel Drouot in 1875 to Jean Dollfus, Paris, France;{1} Sale at (Galerie Georges Petit, Paris) March 1912 to a collector named Thorint.{2} Possibly collection of R. Mirabeau.{3} Richard M. C. Livingston, New York; Sale at (Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, New York) May 1951).{4} Probably (John Nicholson Gallery, New York, New York);{5} Purchased by the John Herron Art Institute, Indianapolis, Indiana, now the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields, in 1952 with funds from the Legacy of James W. Fesler at the suggestion of Caroline Marmon Fesler, Indianapolis (52.15). ------- {1} The multiple catalogues of the "Vente Corot" which took place from 24 May to 9 June 1875 at the Hôtel Drouot, Paris, are reproduced in Alfred Robaut, L'Oeuvre de Corot, catalogue raisonné et illustré, volume 4, 1905, reprint 1965. This painting is Robaut, catalogue raisonne no. 329 (illustrated with a drawing) "Villeneuve-lez-Avignon -- Vue prise du midi en regardant le village." A red wax seal on the stretcher is further proof that this painting was in the posthumous sale. {2} An annotated copy of the auction catalogue, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 2 March 1912, Catalogue de Tableaux modernes dependant des Collections de M. Jean Dollfus, no. 16 (illustration) is located at the Frick Art Reference Library, New York, and lists the buyer as Thorint, and the purchase price as 9200 francs. {3} This information is unconfirmed, but appears in the 1951 Livingston auction catalogue (see below). {4} Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, French and American Modern Paintings, Drawings and Prints: Property of Estate of the late Richard M.C. Livingston and of Dr. Franco Russo, 23 May 1951, no. 49 (illustration). {5} IMA Temporary Receipt No. 5713 notes that the painting was "received from John Nicholson Gallery (through Julius Lowy, Inc.)".