Lot Essay
Sir Oliver Millar pointed out before Leonard Koetser's exhibition of 1961 that the present picture is probably one of the four by the artist owned by Charles I. Apparently, before the 1961 sale the painting had been owned by a Mrs. Hughes, who had inherited it from her grandfather. His parent, Richard Leeson, had married Benjamina Strahan, a descendant of Charles II through George Scott, Lord of Logie. The painting could have remained in the royal collection during the Commonwealth or have been one of those repurchased at the Restoration. It fits the description of a picture recorded by Abraham van der Doort, the Keeper of the Cabinet Room, in his inventory of the contents of the Cabinet Room in the Privy Gallery at Whitehall, completed by 1639: 'Item an other peece of grapes and peach - and vine leaves uppon a Stone table. done by A ffrenchwoeman in ffraunc Called . Lousea Mullon:', annotated 'baeht bij te king bij M persis mans' (Windsor MS, folio 156, see O. Millar, loc. cit.)