The present painting was acquired from the artist himself by Violet Schiff, nee Beddington (d.1962). She published several translations from french and her husband, Sydney, who wrote under the nom-de-plume Stephen Hudson, was a distinguished novelist and translator, notably of Proust's Le Temps Retrouve. They were well known in literary circles and were friends of Proust and Max Beerbohm, letters from whom form part of the Schiff Collection in the British Museum. Their carefully chosen art collection included a painting by Stanley Spencer and sculpture by Gaudier-Brzeska (the plaster of The Dancer, purchased from the artist in 1913 and now in the Tate Gallery) and Epstein. See also Julian Fane, In Search of Violet Schiff, The Cornhill, no.1066, Winter 1970-71, p.p. 253-80 and idem, Memoir in the middle of a Journey, London, 1971