After Mathieu le Nain

Pierre Rosenberg (Tout l'oeuvre peint des le Nain, Paris, 1993, pp. 89-90, no. 66C, illustrated p. 90) has noted the existence of several extant versions of this composition, and attributes the lost original to Mathieu le Nain, placing it in the early 1640s. Pierre Rosenberg tentatively identifies the original as lot 266 in a sale in Paris, 2-4 February 1813. Other versions are in the Asschere Collection, London (66A); formerly on the French art market (66B); and a variant in vertical format, apparently cropped on both sides, in the Musée Municipal, Laon (66D).