Watermark: F. Johannot. Annonay, along right edge.
One of the individual figure studies for the painting "The Card Players" of which five versions are known, dating from 1890 and after.
Unlike most of the stoic men in Cézanne's series of card player paintings, this figure betrays signs of concentration in his slight frown and furrowed brow. Cézanne often worked with the same models, laborers who were sometimes paid to pose; the directness and sureness of his lines suggest that he was drawing a model with whom he had worked several times before and whose appearance he knew well. Though this sheet may seem preparatory in nature, its highly finished state and size suggest otherwise. -- Exhibition Label, from "Drawn to Greatness: Master Drawings from the Thaw Collection"
Vollard, Ambroise, 1867-1939, former owner.
Matthiesen, F., former owner.
Hanley, T. Edward, former owner.
Hanley, Tullah Innes, former owner.
Thaw, Eugene Victor, former owner.
Thaw, Clare, former owner.
The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY, "Drawn to Greatness: Master Drawings from the Thaw Collection", 2017. Exh. cat., no. 42, repr.
Stampfle, Felice, and Cara D. Denison. Drawings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene V. Thaw. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1975, no. 98, repr.
Pierpont Morgan Library. Major Acquisitions of the Pierpont Morgan Library, 1924-1974. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1974. Vol. 2: Drawings, p. 56.
Ryskamp, Charles, ed. Eighteenth Report to the Fellows of the Pierpont Morgan Library, 1975-1977. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1978, p. 257.
Denison, Cara D. French Master Drawings in the Pierpont Morgan Library. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1993, no. 121, repr.
Denison, Cara D. et al. From Mantegna to Picasso : Drawings from the Thaw Collection at the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York. London : Royal Academy of Arts ; New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1996, no. 78, repr.