Mme Johanna van Gogh-Bonger [1862-1925], the artist's sister-in-law, Amsterdam; {1] sold August 1908 to (J.H. de Bois [C.M. van Gogh], The Hague); sold August 1908 to Richard Kisling [1862-1917], Zürich;[2] Mme Hedwig Glatt-Kisling, Zürich until 1929;[3] (Max Bollag, Zürich); by whom sold 1951 to Chester Dale [1882-1962], New York;[4] bequest 1963 to NGA.
[1] Listed no. 255 in the Andries Bonger stock list of 1890 as ‘Jeune fille en blanc’ (12). This is a reference to a size 12 figure canvas which measured 61 x 50 cm. The painting is now considered to have been painted on a size 15 marine canvas, which measured 65 x 45 cm., Van Gogh, for his own artistic reasons, wanting to exploit the less orthodox, more elongated shape. This slight discrepancy in the canvas size is understandable given that Bonger’s assessments were presumably being made by eye alone.
[2] Walter Feilchenfeldt, Vincent van Gogh & Paul Cassirer, Berlin, Amsterdam, 1988, p. 120. Silvia Volkart, in Richard Kisling (1862-1917): Sammler, Mäzen und Kunstvermittler, Bern, 2008, p. 15, reproduces the page in Kisling's account book that documents the purchase.
[3] The Swiss dealer Max Bollag sold privately and then held a public auction of the Kisling collection on 18 November 1929. This painting was not included in the 1929 sale and remained with Bollag until it's acquisition by Dale in 1951.
[4] Date and source of acquisition according to Chester Dale papers in NGA curatorial files.
