Jean Laroche, Pont-l'Évêque (acquired directly from the artist in 1932)
M & Mme Jacques Laroche, Paris (by descent from the above)
Private Collection (by descent from the above; sale: Christie's, New York, 7th November 2002, lot 269)
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

Paris, Galerie Charpentier, Vuillard, 1948, no. 49

François Duret-Robert, Connaisance des Arts, Paris, 1995, no. 522, illustrated in colour p. 105
Antoine Salomon & Guy Cogeval, Vuillard. The Inexhaustible Glance. Critical Catalogue of Paintings and Pastels, Milan, 2003, vol. III, no. XII-71, illustrated p. 1489

The present work is a colorful and lively amalgamation of scenes taken from the daily life of Vuillard and his friends and patrons. Salomon and Cogeval describe and identify the sketches in detail: "In the top right corner the artist has painted his own bespectacled head on a green ground; in the top left corner, the highly expressive face of Jos Hessel dressed in a grey suit... In the bottom right corner, standing in front of a house with a nosegay in her hands, is Madame Hessel... The heart of the composition consists of a large room with a tiled floor and yellow walls... To the right, lying on a couch covered with a green fabric printed with red and yellow flowers, is a woman, reading a newspaper beneath a lamp"(A. Salomon & G. Cogeval, op. cit., Milan, 2003, vol. III, p. 1489).