EVENING, FRANCOIS BOUCHER AND STUDIO

Marquis de Ganay (presumably in France); Mme Ridgway, 1902; Reginald Vaile; By whom sold, London, Christie’s, 6 July 1903, lot 105; With the dealer Arthur Tooth, London; From whom presumably acquired by Sir Joseph B. Robinson (1840-1929). [Sir Joseph Robinson lived in South Africa and London, but his pictures were kept in London, at Dudley House until 1908, but thereafter in storage.  He consigned them all to sale at Christie’s in London in 1923, but turned up on the eve of the sale, already infirm and in a wheelchair, and fell in love with his pictures once again, and raised all the reserve prices, so that most of them were unsold] Sir Joseph Robinson sale, London, Christie’s, 23 May 1923, lot 58, unsold; By inheritance to his daughter Ida (died 1961), who in 1921 had married Count Natale Labia (1877-1936), Italian Minister Plenipotentiary to the Union of South Africa; By inheritance to Count Natale (“Luccio”) Labia (1924-2016); By inheritance to his daughter Antonia, the current owner.
Whereabouts of the paintings. They remained in the UK until 1958/9.  They were shipped to South Africa for inclusion in the exhibition in 1959:- Cape Town, National Gallery of South Africa, The Joseph Robinson Collection, 1959, no. 103. They stayed on loan in the National Gallery of South Africa until shipped back to Europe for the Zurich exhibition in 1962:- Zurich, Kunsthaus, Sammlung Sir Joseph Robinson, 1840-1929, 1962, no. 47 And were returned to Cape Town, on loan in the National Gallery of South Africa, until shipped back to London for the Royal Academy exhibition in 1968:- London, Royal Academy, France in the Eighteenth Century, 1968, no. 54. They returned to Cape Town after that exhibition and remained there until 1977, when they were shipped to the UK to be exhibited on loan in Birmingham and later Cardiff under the auspices of Peter Cannon-Brookes, who held curatorial posts at both institutions successively.  They thus remained in the UK until 1989, when they were shipped by sea to Cape town, accompanied by Peter Cannon-Brookes, who had by then been appointed curator to the collection by Count Luccio Labia. They were displayed at Muizenberg, and at Casa Labia after Count Labia regained possession of the Casa Labia in 2008.
Summary of locations:- Presumably France, until circa 1902 UK, London, 1902-1958/9 South Africa, Cape Town, 1959-1962 Switzerland, Zurich, 1962 South Africa, Cape Town, 1962/3-1968 UK, London, 1968 South Africa, Cape Town, 1968/9-1977 UK, London, Birmingham and Cardiff, 1977-1989 South Africa, Muizenberg, 1989-2020 (with the shipper until 2021).