Jean-François Millet, 'Woman and Child in a Landscape', 1846-7

In the collection of Alfred Sensier (1815–1877); according to the catalogue to the Albert Spencer sale it was among the 167 pictures sold by Sensier for 267,440 francs to Durand‐Ruel on 17 March 1873. Included were 34 paintings and 19 pastels by Millet, valued at 116,450 francs, many of them early works that had been bought cheaply by Sensier from the artist, with the promise that they would never be sold; E. Sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 20 April 1874, lot 61 (Bergère lutinée par l’Amour, 46 × 38 cm), bought by Reigue for 5,000 francs; in the collection of M. Perrau (died 1881), Paris; Albert Spencer (1842–1907) collection, New York, by 1883; his sale, Chickering Hall, Fifth Avenue, New York, 28 February 1888, lot 24, bought for 3,500 dollars by Samuel Dennis Warren (1817–1888); after his death it became the property of his wife, Susan Cornelia Warren (1825–1901); her sale, 1903, lot 78 (Millet, Peasant Woman and Child, 18 × 15 in [45.7 × 37 cm]), bought by Isidore Montaignac (1851–1924) for 11,100 dollars; collection of Jan Herman van Eeghen (1849–1918), Amsterdam, son of Christiaan Pieter van Eeghen (1816–1889) of the van Eeghen family merchant house; exhibited with his collection at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, 1903–8; according to the Knoedler stockbook (Book 5, Stock no. 11517, p. 152, row 25, Getty Provenance Index), NG 2636 was among a group of paintings bought by Arnoldus Petrus Eversteijn (born 1840) and Richard Howard Tripp (or Trip, 1849–1919) from the van Eeghen collection, which they then sold to Knoedler on 30 October 1907. The Knoedler stockbook states that NG 2636 was bought back by Arnold and Tripp on 20 June 1908 for 20,150 dollars, with Obach and Tooth listed as joint owners; however, on 10 June 1908 it was already with Obach and Co., London, from whom it was bought by George Salting (1835–1909) on that date; bequeathed by George Salting to the National Gallery in 1910.