Provenance
1Mme E. Gautier Paris Dedication on the painting, lower left; the dedication’s addressee was most probably Ernesta Grisi, companion from 1844 to 1866 of the critic Théophile Gautier whose positive review of the two large allegories of «Concordia» (i.e. Peace) and «War» exhibited in the 1861 Salon was instrumental in drawing the attention of the French authorities towards Puvis› work. The acquisition of these works by the French government marked the beginning of Puvis› successful career as a painter of murals.
2Eugene O. M. Linton-Hanson Copenhague Brown Price no. 102.
3Dikran Kélékian New York • by 1922 until [d.] 1951 Illustrated Catalogue of the Notable Collection of Modern French Pictures and a Group of the Works of the Noted American Artist Arthur B. Davies, Formed by and Belonging to the Widely Known Antiquarian Dikran Kahn Kélékian of Paris and New York, American Art Association, New York (30–31 January 1922), no. 143; Paintings, Watercolors and Drawings of the Moderns, (sale cat.) Rains Gallery, New York (18 January 1935).
4Victor D. Spark New York • by 1953 Advertisement of Victor D. Spark, New York, illustrating Puvis de Chavannes, Concordia, in Art Quarterly (16) 1953, p. 170. The ownership of Victor D. Spark, in 1953, is further corroborated by the fact that the painting was offered to Bührle (by way of a photography) already in April 1953, for $ 2.800, AStEGB, Entry Book II, 18 April 1953. The listing of «Downtown Gallery» as an owner of the painting (previous to Spark) by Brown Price no. 102 is more likely to refer to an exhibition of the painting in the popular New York gallery.
5M. H. Drey Ltd. London • by 1956 Kauffmann Inventory, Journal 4, p. 26, no. 1547, indicating a shared ownership in the painting as of 11 September 1956.
6Dr. Arthur Kauffmann London • 1956 Half share acquired from the above, Journal as above, n. (5).
7Emil Bührle Zürich • 1 November 1956 until [d.] 28 November 1956 Acquired from the above for £ 3.000, Journal as above, n. (5); AStEGB, Entry Book II, 1 November 1956.
8Given by the heirs of Emil Bührle to the Foundation E.G. Bührle Collection Zurich • 1960 Inv. 81.
AStEGB = Archive of the Foundation
E.G. Bührle Collection, Zurich