The Cleveland Museum of Art

• Provenance
  Before 1896

  Probably Louis-Charles-Léon Courajod [1841-1896], Paris, France

  Probably 1938

  (Probably a public auction, Paris, sold to Georges Wildenstein)

  1938-probably 1940

  (Georges Wildenstein, Paris, France, owned in share with Galerie Cailleux, confiscated by the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg)

  Probably 1940-1945

  In possession of the Nazis

  1945-1947

  In possession of the Allies, repatriated to France and restituted to Georges Wildenstein

  1947-before 1960

  (Georges Wildenstein, New York, NY, his share probably sold to Galerie Cailleux)

  By 1960

  (Galerie Cailleux, Paris, France, sold to Severance and Greta Millikin)

  1960-1964

  Severance (1895-1985) and Greta Millikin (1903-1989), Cleveland, Ohio, gifted to the Cleveland Museum of Art

  1964-

  The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio

  Provenance Footnotes

  1 The remnants of an old label reading "M. Courajod" are present on the painting's stretcher, likely referring to Louis-Charles-Léon Courajod, a curator, art historian, and collector.  The Courajod label strongly indicates his past ownership of the painting; however, posthumous sales of his collection from 1897 and 1911 do not contain the Cleveland picture.

  2 1Wildenstein’s file on this painting indicates that it was purchased in 1938 at, according to the gallery's records, a "public auction," but contains no additional details.  A search of French sales in 1937 and 1938 including paintings by Lépicié and Lagrenée did not reveal any appearance by the CMA portrait, and Wildenstein's records do not contain any more information about the auction or auction house from which the painting was purchased.  The pre-1938 provenance of this painting remains unconfirmed; however, as is discussed in the CMA paintings catalogue (European Paintings of the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries, 1982) it may have been exhibited at the Salon of 1769, where a painting depicting a woman reading was displayed.  Although its dimensions are the same as those of the Cleveland picture, it cannot be confirmed that the two paintings are one and the same because Lépicié painted a number of paintings of the same subject.  The CMA Lépicié may also have appeared in an auction at Chariot, Paris, on January 25, 1779 (Lugt 2946).  The painting, there titled “Une jeune fille, lisant” (lot 64), was 17 x 14 inches (the CMA picture is 18 3/16 x 14 7/8 inches), and did not sell.  Again, because Lépicié painted several pictures depicting a woman reading and the Chariot catalogue, like the Salon catalogue, does not provide sufficient identifying information, this painting cannot be securely identified as the Cleveland picture.

  3 This painting appears in Wildenstein’s Paris records from 1938 with stock no. 5798.  The work was listed in the gallery stock book as by Lagrenée, with Lépicié written below it. 

  4 Georges Wildenstein fled to the south of France by the time the German army entered Paris in June 1940.  The Lépicié was seized by the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (ERR), likely by mid-November 1940, the date by which, according to the Allies’ interrogation of Günther Schiedlausky, an art historian employed by the ERR, most of the material from the Rothschild, Kann, Weil-Picard, and Wildenstein collections had been confiscated (Statement by Schiedlausky on ERR Organization.  Restitution Research Records.  Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (ERR):Schiedlausky, Gunther.  Records Concerning the Central Collecting Points ("Ardelia Hall Collection"): Munich Central Collecting Point, 1945-1951.  Record Group 260.  National Archives Identifier 3725274.  M1946, Roll 125, page 5.  Fold3.com, http://www.fold3.com/image/114/283751193/, retrieved Sept. 24, 2014).  The painting’s arrival at the Jeu de Paume was registered on January 15, 1943, when it was assigned ERR No. W 125; traces of the black stenciled "W" remain present on the painting's stretcher.  The Munich Central Collecting Point property card reveals that the Lépicié had been given an ERR-GEM number of 105; this indicates that the painting was shipped from an ERR depot in crate 105, most likely to Alt Aussee, where most of the GEM crates were sent.  

  5 The Munich Collecting Central Collecting Point property card shows an Alt Aussee number of 294/11 and a Munich number of 368/11, signifying that the Lépicié was the 368th group of objects (and 11th within that group) to come from Shipment no. 294 from Alt Aussee to the Collecting Point, where the painting arrived on June 23, 1945.  It was repatriated to France on June 25, 1946, and then restituted to Wildenstein on March 21, 1947.

  6 The exact circumstances of Wildenstein's postwar possession and sale of the painting remain unknown.  Because Cailleux, with whom Wildenstein jointly owned the painting prior to the war, ultimately sold the Lépicié to the Millikins in 1960, it would appear that Wildenstein sold his share to Cailleux, giving the latter full ownership.  At this point, however, there is no confirmation of this transaction or indication as to when it took place. 
• Citations
  Cultural Plunder by the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg: Database of Art Objects at the Jeu de Paume. www.errproject.org

  Datenbank zum Central Collecting Point München, Deutsches Historisches Museum. www.dhm.de

  List of French Property from Central Collecting Point, Munich. Reports. 73.11c-Status Of Collecting Point MUNICH- Transport Lists FRANCE-Folder II. Records of the American Commission for the Protection and Salvage of Artistic and Historical Monuments in War Areas (The Roberts Commission), 1943-1946, Record Group 239. National Archives Identifier 1518796. M1944, Roll 6, page 228. Fold3.com, retrieved Sept. 23, 2014. www.fold3.com

  Datenbank zum Central Collecting Point München, Deutsches Historisches Museum. www.dhm.de

  The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Catalogue of Paintings, Part 3: European Paintings of the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1982. Reproduced: p. 101; Mentioned: p. 100-102

  Cleveland Museum of Art. European Paintings of the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries. 1982. pp. 100-102, cat. no. 42

  Cleveland Museum of Art, and Alan Chong. European & American Painting in the Cleveland Museum of Art: A Summary Catalogue. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1993. p. 131
• Exhibition History
  The Severance and Greta Millikin Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 5-September 2, 1990).
• Cite this Page
  {{cite web|title=Woman Reading|url=false|author=Nicolas-Bernard Lépicié|year=1769|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}