Provenienz
1Hubert Debrousse Château de Moyeux, Nangis, Seine-et-Marne Collection de feu M. Hubert Debrousse, Catalogue des tableaux modernes, (sale cat.) Hôtel Drouot, Paris (4–6 April 1900), no. 112.
2Private collection Paris • by 1912 Anonymous Sale, Paris (7 December 1912), no. 15, Maison I-90.
3Hirsch Paris Fourth Exhibition «La Flèche d’Or», Important Pictures from French Collections, Arthur Tooth & Sons Ltd., London 1938, no. 28; Getty Research Institute, Santa Monica (California), Tooth Archive, Box 21, Consignments, mentions «P. Guillaume» as the owner of the painting at the 1938 Flèche d’Or exhibition. The painting seems to have been on the market for an extended period of time; Maison no. I-90 tentatively gives Jos Hessel, Paris, and Justin K. Thannhauser, New York, as possible additional steps in its provenance. A reference to Duncan Phillips, Washington D.C., given by Maison cannot be corroborated in the catalogues of the Phillips Collection.
4Domenica Walter-Guillaume by 1938 until 1947 Getty Research Institute, Santa Monica (California), Knoedler Gallery Archive, Stockbooks, Book 9, p. 157, no. A3763, identifies Mrs. Jean Walter (formerly Mrs. Paul Guillaume) as the consignor.
5M. Knoedler & Co., Inc. New York • 1947–1948 Co-owned with the above, a half share of $ 6.000 taken by the Knoedler Galleries on 29 October 1947, Knoedler Gallery Archive, Stockbook 9, as above, n. (4).
6William F.C. Ewing New York • 1948 Acquired from the above in January 1948 for $ 18.000, Stockbook 9, as above, n. (4).
7M. Knoedler & Co., Inc. New York Maison no. I-90; Kauffmann Inventory, Notebook I, inscribed «1952/USA», on page headed with the inscription 25–5–52 KNOED and containing a list of paintings, obviously seen by Kauffmann at Knoedler Galleries, including «Daumier, small picture with two heads, one en face», marked with an *. The price quoted for the Daumier is $ 22.000. No reference regarding the return of the painting by Ewing to the Knoedler Gallery, as indicated by Maison no. I-90 is contained in the gallery’s stock books, which might indicate that the painting was acquired directly from Ewing, and might also explain why AStEGB, Inventory Card Daumier, Avocats, gives as provenance private collection, New York.
8Dr. Arthur Kauffmann London • 1952 AStEGB, Entry Book II, 15 July 1952, identifying Dr. Fritz Nathan as the consignor; Inventory Card Daumier, Avocats, identifying Dr. Arthur Kauffmann as the seller.
9Emil Bührle Zurich • 25 July 1952 Acquired from the above, Inventory Card as above, n. (9), with date of acquisition; the price may have been $ 25.000, Kauffmann Inventory, Notebook II, inscribed «1952/USA», and listing a selection of paintings, including Daumier, Les deux avocats, now priced at $ 25.000.
10Foundation E.G. Bührle Collection Zurich 1960 Inv. 28.
AStEGB = Archive of the Foundation
E.G. Bührle Collection, Zurich