Emperor Napoléon III (1808-1873), Palais des Tuileries, Paris, later Chislehurst, England:
By inheritance to his wife, Empress Eugénie (1826-1920), Farnborough Hill Properties, Hants.;
Her posthumous sale, London, Christie's, 1 July 1927, lot 49, to Swaine (where called 'Portrait of a Boy, said to be the Dauphin');
With Wildenstein & Co., New York;
By whom sold to William Randolph Hearst, New York, 1927;
His sale, New York, Parke-Bernet, 5 January 1939, lot 20, bought in for $13,500 (where called 'Louis XVII, as Dauphin);
By whom given to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, in 1948 (acc. no. 48.24.180);
By whom deaccessioned and sold, Los Angeles, Sotheby Parke Bernet, 7 November 1977, lot 172;
There purchased John James and Marian Bowater, Los Angeles;
Thence by descent to the present owner.

J. Martin and C. Masson, Catalogue raisonnė de l'œuvre peint et dessinė de Jean-Baptiste Greuze, in  C. Mauclair, J.-B. Greuze, Paris 1906, p. 62, cat. no. 982 (as Jeune garçon brun);
P. Wescher and E. Feinblatt, Los Angeles County Museum, Catalogue of Paintings I: Catalogue of Italian French and Spanish Paintings, XV-XVIII Century, Losꦑ Angeles 1954, p. 66, cat. no. 68, reproduced (where called "Portrait🎶 of a Young Boy").

Painting is on oval canvas which has been laid down on a rectangular canvas. the portrait is painted in a very broad, sketchy manner and nice thick brush strokes can be seen throughout, especially in his jacket. the flesh tones and hair are very nicely preserved. ultraviolet light reveals small cosmetic retouches to face on tip of his nose, chin, and forehead. a few tiny retouches scattered on shoulder at left and over an old repaired L-shaped tear on left shoulder. some tiny ones scattered here and there on jacket and in background. painting has been recently cleaned and these retouches have been well applied, so there is no need for further work and painting is ready to hang. In an elaborately carved and gilt wood frame with losses to the corners and nicks to the gilding.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

The present Portrait of a Boy belongs to a group of male portraits painted by Greuze circa 1791-1792, characterized by an unfinished, sketchy brushwork and a direct, simple presentation. These include Portrait of Jean-Jacques Rėgis de Cambacėrès and Portrait d'un garçonnet, both in the Musėe de Chartres; a Portait of an Unknown Man (Louis Moreau de Saint-Mėry?) sold in London, Christie's, 8 July 2004, lot 173; and a portrait, presumed to be Jean-Jacues Caffiėri. Greuze was very much aware of Jacques-Louis David by 1791, and the attractive, sketchy manner of painting he employed here has parallels with portraits by David of the same date, such as his Portrait of Madame Trudaine (Musėe de Louvre, Paris, inv. no. R.F. 670).

Though described previously as a portrait of Louis-Charles, duc de Normandie, Dauphin of France (1785-1795), this identification is untenable for the simple reason that the Dauphin had blue eyes while the subject of this portrait has brown eyes. Contemporary portraits of the Dauphin of unquestionable authenticity demonstrate this fact – from Vigėe-Lebrun's Marie-Antoinette et ses enfants of 1787, depicting the Dauphin on the Queeen's lap, to the same artist's portrait of the Dauphin with his dog "Coco" of 1789, as well as Alexander Kucharski's portrait of the Dauphin from 1791 or 1792, which also shows the Dauphin's eye🤪s as blue. Besides the color of the eyes, the sitter's features in these known&nbs༒p;portraits do not resemble those in the present work, for instance the sitter's assertive chin. Furthermore, the Dauphin was only ten when he died and in his last two years was imprisoned in the Tour du Temple, mal-treated, ill, and hardly able to sit to Greuze for his portrait.

Another version of the present work was sold at the Palais Galliėra, Paris on 7 March 1972, lot 122, and again at Christie's, London, on 19 July 1973, also lot 122, and, most recently, in Paris on 10 March 1993, lot 16, each time claiming as provenance the Laperlier sale of 11 April 1867 cited above under the Martin-Masson literature. This copy, on a rectangular canvas, was executed probably in Greuze's studio by one of his pupils about the same time as the present autograph original. This secondary work differs from the present picture in its even sketchier execution of the boy's jacket and in the increasingly aggressive thrust of the boy's chin.

We are grateful to Edgar Munhall for confirming the attribution to Greuze, and for his assistance in the cataloguing of this picture. A copy of Dr. Munhall's report, along with a list of comparable images discussed here is availaꦅble upon request.