Due Diligence in the Digital Era: A Case Study of Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot’s "Les Petits Dénicheurs"
Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Les Petits Dénicheurs, oil on canvas, 71.8 x 100.6 cm, Private Collection, Image courtesy of Aubrey Catrone.
It should come as no surprise that access to provenance-related information continues to increase with technological advancements. New details come to light on a daily basis, dictating that every work of art should be thoroughly researched prior to each transfer of ownership. Artworks that were sold with limited, undated provenances in the past may now be expanded through a reliance on twenty-first-century resources. What better way to exemplify this assertion than through a case study, particularly that of Jean-Baptise-Camille Corot’s Les Petits Dénicheurs (c. 1872-73)?
On February 16, 1994, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot’s Les Petits Dénicheurs appeared in the 19th Century European Paintings, Drawings, and Sculpture sale at Sotheby’s New York as Lot 44. It sold for $1,100,00 (including buyer’s premium) after being presented with a limited, undated, and unpunctuated provenance. In the face of 122 years of uncorroborated history, let’s examine how a provenance researcher can fill in the gaps with the aid of digital resources.
Excerpt: Sotheby’s New York, 19th Century European Paintings, Drawings, and Sculpture, February 16, 1994, lot 44 (exh. cat.), Image courtesy of Aubrey Catrone.
1) The Catalogue Raisonné
The catalogue raisonné, as with most artists, remains one of the first places to check the status of an artwork. The original 1905 edition of L’oeuvre de Corot par Alfred Robaut is readily available for the discerning researcher on the Internet Archive. A review of this publication immediately offers the gift of dates and punctuation. Robaut includes two versions of Les Petits Dénicheurs. Each version is reproduced, with this painting identifiable as Robaut No. 2308, updating the 1994 provenance for the years 1872-1877.
Alfred Robaut, L’Oeuvre de Corot, vol. 3, Catalogue des peintres: deuxième partie (Paris: H. Floury, 1905), 356, https://archive.org/details/loeuvredecorot03roba/page/356/mode/2up, Image courtesy of Aubrey Catrone.
2) The Astor Connection
Next, the Sotheby's provenance proffers “William Astor, Esq., New York.” The Astor name alone is enough to elicit celebrity provenance in valuations. The famous family’s empire was built by John Jacob Astor in the 1800s, America’s first multi-millionaire. He constructed an enduring legacy built around markets such as fur, illegal drugs, and real estate. Since then, the fortune has predominately been inherited patrilineally, with branches in the U.S. and the U.K. With a plethora of John Jacobs and Williams in their family tree, it’s clear that they are dedicated to recycling names. Their family history is also accessible online if you have the time to decipher it.
Truncated Astor Family Tree: Line of Inheritance, image courtesy of Aubrey Catrone
Without dates or a middle name, we are left to traverse a sea of William Astor’s dating as far back as 1792. Without location, we must wonder if the painting passed through the American branch of the family or the British branch that attained peerage, with William Waldorf “Willy” Astor serving as the 1st Viscount Astor. This question is redoubled by the auction catalogue’s use of “Esq.” In the United States, “Esquire” is often reserved as an indication of one’s profession as an attorney. However, in the United Kingdom, “Esquire” can also be ascribed to those who are members of the landed gentry but below the status of a knight. The literature sources enumerated within the 1994 auction record indicate that the painting resided with a family member that exhibited his collection in America during the 1880s. This narrows the search to two William Astors: Willy Astor or his uncle William Backhouse Astor Jr.
The 1994 auction record also lists “Catalogue of the Private Collection of William Astor, New York, n.d., No. 28, p. 10 (as The Nest)” and should help determine which William was indeed the owner. A WorldCat search indicates that the only publicly available copy of this work is held at the New York Public Library (NYPL). Upon viewing the handwritten book in person, there were a number of pages missing, and the piece in question was not to be found.
The second literature reference, “Edward Strahan, The Art Treasures of America, Vol. II, New York, 1977, p. 78 (as The Nest, belonging to Mr. William Astor, New York),” again led me to the Internet Archive. This source, originally published in 1881, includes The Nest amongst the holdings of “William Astor.” Again, no differentiation is made between members of the Astor family with the same name.
With at least a 117-year gap remaining in uncorroborated ownership history, spanning the Second World War, I turned to a series of online databases to ensure that the painting is not recorded as looted. The Getty Provenance Index reveals an acquisition record. M. Knoedler & Co., New York, acquired the Corot painting from William Vincent Astor on December 12, 1953, suggesting that the painting had been inherited from his grandfather, William Backhouse Astor Jr. This theory seemed plausible as John Jacob Astor IV inherited a large portion of William Backhouse Astor Jr.’s collection. And, upon John Jacob Astor IV’s 1912 death on the Titanic, Vincent Astor inherited his father’s estate.
The Vincent Astor Foundation Papers offered possible corroboration of the William Backhouse Astor Jr. theory. The online finding aid lists the 1957 last will and testament of Vincent’s mother, Ava Ribblesdale, and the 1912 Appraisal of William Astor’s Estate among its “Miscellaneous” contents.
Ava Ribblesdale’s last will and testament indicate that she did not leave anything to her son, Vincent Astor. However, the 1912 Appraisal of William Astor’s Estate enumerates the art located at 840 Fifth Avenue, formerly the renovated home of John Jacob IV and his mother. This document lists a Corot painting titled Le Nid, which translates to The Nest, valued at $60,000. Here, we are provided confirmation that the painting passed through inheritance from William Backhouse Astor, Jr. to John Jacob Astor IV to Vincent Astor.
Le Nid, along with a series of other objects, was crossed off of the appraisal list in pencil, dated “12/1/24”, with their values subtracted from the total valuation of William Astor’s Estate. Combined with the fact that the painting in question is detailed as part of the John Jacob Astor IV collection in a digitized edition of Munsey’s Magazine from 1910 but is missing from the digitized catalogue for the 1926 estate sale of 840 Fifth Avenue, it can be reasonably deduced that Vincent Astor kept the work within his personal collection before deaccessioning it in 1953.
3) The Knoedler Connection
The same stock book entry [1] that details Knoedler’s acquisition of the painting from Vincent Astor details that it was sold to the Fort Worth, Texas philanthropist, Amon G. Carter, in 1954.
Knoedler Stock Book 10, Stock No. A5608, Page 122, Row 3, Getty Provenance Index, accessed 6 March 2020, https://rosettaapp.getty.edu/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_pid=FL4157265, Image courtesy of Aubrey Catrone.
The online finding aid for the Amon G. Carter Papers, held within the eponymous museum’s collection, confirms that Les Petits Dénicheurs was, at one point, in Carter’s personal collection. Email correspondence with a museum archivist provided access to the Knoedler receipt, confirming the original Sotheby's provenance. As indicated by the finding aid, Les Petits Dénicheurs was one of a number of paintings and bronzes not included in the museum’s permanent collection that was created from Carter’s personal collection upon his 1955 death. Neither the museum nor the Amon G. Carter Foundation was able to locate any information detailing its deaccessioning.
4) Former Galleries/Dealers
Galleries or dealers through which artworks have passed can also be helpful. Now, more than ever, the digital age makes it possible for researchers to contact these resources regardless of their international location. In this case, “Richard Green Gallery, London” is the last line of provenance provided in the 1994 auction catalogue. An email inquiry and phone call with Jonathan Green of London’s Richard Green Gallery unearthed even more provenance information:
• Private Collection, Texas;
• Sale: Christie’s New York, 19th Century European Paintings, Drawings, Watercolors and Sculptures, October 25, 1989, lot 27;
• Richard Green Gallery, acquired from the above;
• Private Collection, Japan, acquired from the above, May 1990.
In the case of Les Petits Dénicheurs, the availability of digital resources enabled me to construct a history for this painting with a methodology that was non-existent before its sale in 1994. Starting without dates or punctuation, I was able to expand the provenance and fill in approximately 100 years of ownership history. More resources may soon come to light allowing further expansion. As always, provenance is never absolute.
Expanded Provenance:
Studio of the Artist;
M. O’Doard;
M. Lagarde;
M. Détrimont, acquired from the above November 1877.
William Backhouse Astor, Jr. (1829-1892), New York, until his death in 1892;
Thence by descent to John Jacob Astor IV (1864-1912), New York, 1892-1912;
Thence by descent to William Vincent Astor (1891-1959), New York, 1912-1953;
M. Knoedler & Co., New York, acquired from the above, December 12, 1953;
Amon G. Carter (1879-1955), Fort Worth, TX, acquired from the above, May 11, 1954.
Private Collection, Texas;
Sale: Christie’s New York, 19th Century European Paintings, Drawings, Watercolors and Sculptures, October 25, 1989 (lot 27);
Richard Green Gallery, acquired from the above;
Private Collection, Japan, acquired from the above, May 1990.
Sale: Sotheby’s, New York, 19th Century European Paintings, Drawings, and Sculpture, February 16, 1994 (lot 44).
[1] Citation: Knoedler Stock Book 10, Stock No. A5608, Page 122, Row 3, Getty Provenance Index, https://rosettaapp.getty.edu/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_pid=FL4157265.
About the Author: Aubrey Catrone is an international art historian, appraiser, and provenance researcher. Aubrey earned an MA in History of Art from University College London, specializing in the documented histories of art objects, and is a member of the Appraisers Association of America. With an art gallery and academic research background, Catrone founded Proper Provenance, LLC to provide her clients with the tools, not only to historically contextualize art, but also to shed light on attribution and legal title within the international art market.
Catrone has researched artworks paintings, artefacts, works on paper, prints, and sculptures spanning the fourth century B.C. to the twenty-first century A.D. She continues to volunteer with the Cultural Plunder by the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg: Jeu de Paume Database.
© Aubrey Catrone 2021