Inscribed on verso in graphite at center, "Constantin Guys / Don de Th. Silvestre en février 1876 / à Alfred Robaut"; below, “don de Silvestre fevrier 1876,” and “dessin de Ghis ou Ghys.”
Watermark: none.
Théophile Silvestre was a critic and art historian who l'Histoire des artistes vivants, français et étrangers, études d'après nature was an ambitious project to chronicle the lives of contemporary artists. He became one of the foremost writers on art in the 1850s, although the publication series was halted in 1857. According to the inscription on the verso, Silvestre gave this sheet in February 1876 to Alfred Robaut, an artist and art historian who prepared and printed the first catalogues raisonné of Delacroix and Corot. Silvestre died on June 20 of that year.
The scene, set at night, with a driver commanding two horses pulling a closed coach with a pair of footmen, or possibly soldiers, on back, is typical of Guys's obsession with conveyances during the 1860s.
Tully, Alice, 1902-1993, former owner.