Pierrot Catching a Fly

1. Noel Hill, first baron Berwick (died 1789), Attingham Hall, near Shrewsbury, Shropshire [according to Watson 1971]; by descent to Thomas Noel Hill, second baron Berwick (died 1832); Berwick sale, Attingham Hall, August 6, 1827, no. 23, as Watteau, Pantaloon, in the act of catching a Fly upon his hand, to Thomas Kenyon (died 1851) [buyer according to a label removed from the back of the stretcher, preserved in the conservation file]; by descent to Lt. Col. Herbert Edward Kenyon, Pradoe, Oswestry, Shropshire [according to a Colnaghi label removed from the back of the stretcher, preserved in the conservation file]. Christie’s, London, November 23, 1956, no. 97, as Watteau, to Arcade Gallery, London, for £400 [price and buyer according to an annotated sale catalogue in Ryerson Library, Art Institute; according to a letter from Monika Wengraf, Arcade Gallery, to Mary Kuzniar dated June 2, 1981, in curatorial file, Arcade Gallery listed the picture in their records as by Mercier]; sold to Colnaghi, London, as Watteau, 1957 [according to the letter cited above]; sold to Sterling Morton, Chicago, 1959 [according to a letter from Grizelda Grimond, Colnaghi, to Susan Wise dated April 8, 1981, in curatorial file]; Mrs. Sterling Morton (died 1969); bequeathed to the Art Institute, 1969.

Recorded by Art Institute of Chicago.

• Art Institute of Chicago, Selected Works of 18th Century French Art in the Collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, January 24–April 25, 1976, no. 3, as Watteau, Pantaloon Catching a Fly.

• J[acques] Mathey, Antione Watteau: Peintures réapparues, inconnues, ou negligees par les historiens, identification par les dessins, chronologie (Paris, 1959), pp. 37–38, 77, no. 89, fig. 89.
• Colnaghi and Company, Colnaghi’s, 1760–1960 (London and Bradford, 1960), fig. 45.
• Ettore Camesasca and John Sunderland, The Complete Paintings of Watteau (New York, 1968), pp. 125, 128, no. 2°v, ill.
• Art Institute of Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago Annual Report 1969–1970 (Chicago, 1970), p. 24.
• J[ohn] M[axon], “Mrs. Morton’s Bequest,” Calendar of the Art Institute of Chicago 64, 1 (1970), n. pag., fig. 1.
• “La Chronique des arts: Musées et monuments historiques,” Gazette Beaux-Arts 6th ser., 76, suppl. to no. 1221 (1970), p. 4.
• “Musées: Heureux centenaires,” Connaissance des arts 218 (1970), p. 7, ill.
• “Recent Accessions of American and Canadian Museums, January–March 1970,” Art Quarterly 33, 3 (1970), p. 323.
• “‘Torero’ Among Art Institute Additions,” Chicago Tribune (February 24, 1970), p. B1.
• Review of Ettore Camesasca and John Sunderland, The Complete Paintings of Watteau, in Times Literary Supplement no. 3626 (August 27, 1971), p. 1019.
• Jean Ferré, et al., Watteau (Madrid, 1972), vol. 1., p. 33; vol. 4, pp. 1110, 1118.
• John D. Morse, Old Master Paintings in North America (New York, 1979), p. 298.

The Family Promenade, also called Philippe Mercier, His First Wife, and Family

Art Institute of Chicago

Visitation, from Book of Hours

Art Institute of Chicago

The Levee of the Married

Art Institute of Chicago

The Destruction of Pharaoh's Army

Art Institute of Chicago

My Room is Another Fish Bowl

Art Institute of Chicago

Panel

Art Institute of Chicago

Portrait of Philippe Coypel and His Wife

Art Institute of Chicago

Philippe de Champaigne

Art Institute of Chicago

Museum holdings, not sale records. Auction results are only shown when a licensed price source is connected.