Girl in a Boat with Geese

The painting was then bought by Ailsa Mellon Bruce of New York and, upon her death in 1969, bequeathed to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.

Girl in a Boat with Geese was painted by Berthe Morisot in 1889, during a period when the artist frequently depicted domestic scenes and outdoor leisure activities along the riverbanks near her home in Paris.

The work entered the art market in 1892, when it was acquired by Baron Denys Cochin in Paris. It was sold at auction on 6 May 1897 to the Paris and New York firm Durand-Ruel, which had long championed Impressionist artists. Durand-Ruel retained the painting until 14 May 1906, when it was purchased by Julius Stern of Berlin.

After Stern’s death, the painting was offered at the Cassirer sale in Berlin on 22 May 1916 and subsequently acquired by M. Knoedler & Co. in New York. It later passed to Arnold Kirkeby in New York, whose estate sold it at Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, on 19 November 1958. The painting was then bought by Ailsa Mellon Bruce of New York and, upon her death in 1969, bequeathed to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., in 1970.

The painting is held by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., where it is accessioned as 1970.17.46.

It was first recorded in the artist’s milieu in 1892 when acquired by Baron Denys Cochin, Paris. After passing through Durand-Ruel in 1897 and Julius Stern in 1906, it was sold in 1916 and later traded through M. Knoedler & Co. and Parke-Bernet Galleries before entering the collection of Ailsa Mellon Bruce in 1958. Bruce bequeathed it to the National Gallery of Art in 1970.