P. Aubry, Paris

with Boussod & Valadon, Paris

E. Vaulheret, Lyon

E. Chausson, Paris

with Bernheim-Jeune, Paris

with Paul Rosenberg, Paris

Mrs. Marshall Field, Chicago

Mrs. Diego Suarez, New York

with M. Knoedler & Co., New York

M.F. Feheley, Toronto

sale, London, Sotheby's, 28 June 1972, lot 6

John R. Gaines, New York

his sale, New York, Sotheby's, 17 Novಌember 1986, lot 3ꩵ2

José Mugrabi Collections, by 1992

sale, London, Sotheby’s, 30 June 1998, lot 3

A. Alexandre, Honoré Daumier - L'homme et l'oeuvre, Paris 1888, p. 376 (listed twice: Atelier de peintre, P. Aubry collection and Amateurs d'estampes, Boussod & Valadon collection)

E. Klossowski, Honoré Daumier, Munich 1923, no. 368A

E. Fuchs, Der Maler Daumier, Munich 1930, no. 332b, reproduced

R. Escholier, Honoré Daumier, Paris 1938, p. 59, reproduced

K. E. Maison, Honoré Daumier, Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings, Watercolors and Drawings, Greenwic🎐h 1968, volume II, no. 386, pl. 128, reproduced

B. Laughton, Honoré Daumier, 🌊New Haven and London 1996, pp.62-3, no. 81, reproduced

Paris, Galerie Durand-Ruel, Exposition des peintures et dessins de H. Daumier, 1878, no. 101

Paris, Palais de l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Exposition Daumier, 1901, no. 489

New York, Wildenstein Inc., Timeless Master Drawings, 1955-56, no. 119

Frankfurt, Städtische Galerie and New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Daumier Drawings, 1992-93, no. 75, reproduced

Although K.E. Maison (see Literature) dated this drawing circa 1860-70, Bruce Laughton subsequently argued that it was, in fact, executed circa 1873-77, convincingly relating it to this late period on stylistic grounds as well as an entry from 20 April 1877 found in Daumier’s last ac🔜count book of 1876 to 1877 which reads as follows:

… vendu à M. Aubry / 1 dessin [pas fini crossed out] Esquisse amateurs dans un atelier … 200 [francs].

Daumier had first approached the subject-matter of amateurs d'art in a wood engraving for Le Monde Illustré in 1862. His early representations of the relationship between artists and collectors have an element of good-humoured satire about them; the amateurs stand behind the artist at his easel giving the impression of little understanding for what is before their eyes. However, as his relationship with collectors and amateurs developed over the years, Daumier eliminated the farcical element from these compositions, creating an atmosphere of empathy between the artist and his public as suggꦡested in this work.

As Laughton describes: '[In this work, Daumier's] conception is clear concerning the relation between the artist and the amateurs - they are the best of friends and understand one another. The interior arrangement of the studio (or library) is indeterminately🧔 rendered, as onceꦍ again a fine pen line wanders over the surface of forms that have first been expressed as light and shade put in with charcoal and grey wash. The artist leans gracefully backwards as he looks over the shoulder of the two connoisseurs'.