Estate of the artist
E.J. van Wisselingh, Amsterdam (acquired by 1955)
Dalzell Hatfield Galleries, Los Angeles
Gary Cooper, United States (acquired by 1957)
Mrs. John Converse, New York
Acquavella Galleries, New York
John T. Dorrance, Jr., Philadelphia (acquired by 1968 and sold: Sotheby's, New York, October 19, 1989, lot 114)
Sale: Christie's, New York, November 9, 1999, lot 260
Acquired at the above sale

Belinda Thompson, Vuillard, Oxford, 1988, illustrated p. 123 (shown in a photograph of Vuillard's apartment on the rue de Calais, 1917)
Antoine Salomon & Guy Cogeval, Vuillard, The Inexhaustible Glance, Critical Catalogue of Paintings and Pastels, vol. III, Paris, 2003, no. X-194, illustrated in color p. 1267

The work is in good condition. Executed on beige paper and mounted to canvas. The extreme perimeter has been taped. Surface is richly textured. There are a few scattered pindot losses to paper towards the upper center as well as some scattered creases which have created minor lines of stable cracking to medium particularly towards the upper left quadrant. There are some scattered pindot losses associated with the creases. There is minor shrinkage also visible to pigments, particularly towards the upper left though also in yellows at center and center left.
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 work is one of a series of paintings depicting Lucy Hessel reading a newspaper in her Parisian apartment. Lucy was the wife of the prominent picture dealer Jos Hessel who, along with his brother Gaston, ran their family's gallery, Bernheim-Jeune. In a discussion of these works, Belinda Thomson commented: "Vuillard also repeatedly reworked a portrait of Lucy Hessel, seated in the warmth and cosy clutter of her rue de Naples boudoir. His obsessive attention to technical problems—to the taut structure of the composition, the multiplication of colors, textures and reflective surfaces—might be seen as symptomatic of the need to take refuge from the horrors of the outside world, to concentrate on an image of reassurance and familiarity. In all the five different states of this contrived and dense composition, the lightest area and the focal point remains the open newspaper, a lifeline of information at these critical times" (Belinda Thompson, op. cit., p. 123). One of these works depicting Madame Hessel is located in the Kunstmuseum in Bern. The present work was in several notable collections include that of the famed American actor Gary Cooper and that of John T. Dorrance, Jr., a former Chairman of the Board at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and Chairman of the Campbell Soup Company.