Prince Eugène-Rose de Beauharnais, Duke of Leuchtenberg (1781-1824, adopted son of the Emperor Napoléon), Munich ;
Thence by descent to his second son and heir, Maximillian-Eugène Auguste-Joseph-Napoléon de Beauharnais, Duke of Leuchtenberg (1817-1852), St. Petersburg;
By inheritance to his widow, the Grand-Duchess Marie Nikolayevna (1819-1876, daughter of Czar Nicolas I), Villa Quarto, near Florence;
By descent to her son, Nicolas Maximilianovich, Duke of Leuchtenberg (1843-1891), Munich;
By descent to his eldest son, Nicolas, Duke of Leuchtenberg, St. Petersburg;
With A.B. Nordiska Kompaniet, Stockholm, 1917;
Anonymous sale ("The Property of a Private Collector"), New York, Christie's, October 5, 1995, lot 138, for $29,900.

Gemälde Sammlung in München... des Dom Augusto, Herzogs von Leuchtenberg, Munich 1835, p. 32, no. 54, engraving reproduced;
Verzeichniss der Bilder Seiner königlichen Hoheit des Prinzen Eugen, Herzogs von Leuchtenberg in München, Munich 1843, p.11, no.34;
J.D. Passavant, Galerie Leuchtenberg, Gemälde-Sammlung seiner kaiserl. Hoheit des Herzogs von Leunchtenberg in München, Frankfurt am Main 1851, p. 34, no. 179, engraving reproduced;
Leuchtenbergska Tavel-Sammlingen, Stockholm 1917, pp. 12-20, 57-58, no.67, reproduced.

We are grateful to Edgar Munhall who, based on firsthand inspection, has confirmed this painting to be by Greuze.  In a written communication, dated April 25, 2007, he states:  "This fine example of the type of work Greuze was still capable of producing in his late 70s is essentially a subject-less picture, though it might be considered to be a bust-length tête d’expression conveying anxiety.  It unmistakably recalls the ancient Niobe Group that Greuze had studied in Rome in 1755-1756.  The pose and uplifted eyes also recall images of young women Greuze was painting in the 1770s.  But I suspect the artist may have executed this Bust of a Young Woman around 1790-1800 as a model for students working in his studio and attempting to emulate his manner.  Here he de𓆉monstrates with brilliant clarity how to paint flesh with the lightest application of pigment, building up just a bit around the nose and eyes, how to paint a moist and expressive eye with perfectly placed white highlights, how to paint hair with brushstrokes no more solid than smoke, how to represent an ear with a minimum of lines, how to render drapery with just the right amount of impasto, and, last but not least, how to paint a nipple in a simple, natural way."

Eugène de Beauharnais (1781-1824) [see Provenance] was the son, by her first marriage, of the Empress Josephine and, like his mother, a great patron of the arts.  Following his adoption by his stepfather Napoléon, he became a Prince of France, Viceroy of Italy and commander-𒐪in-chief of the French army in Italy.  After Napoléon’s overthrow in 1814, he came under the protection of his father-in-law, Ma⭕ximilian I Joseph (1756-1825), King of Bavaria and was created Duke of Leuchtenberg.