Attributed to Nicolaes Maes

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Attributed to Nicolaes Maes
ca. 1634-1693
Woman Asleep in a Chair
Pen and brown ink and wash, on paper; slight corrections in opaque white in the figure's bodice and skirt; framing line in brown ink.
7 13/16 x 6 1/16 inches (200 x 153 mm)
Purchased by Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) in 1909.
I, 199
Notes: 

Watermark: none.

Inscription: 

Inscribed on a fragment of the old mount (no longer attached), in Robinson's hand, in graphite, "J C Robinson / From Lord Palmerston's Coln ["n" in superscript]".

Provenance: 
Henry Temple, 2nd Viscount Palmerston (1739-1802), Broadlands, near Romsey, Hampshire, and London; his son, Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston (1784-1865), Broadlands and London; his widow, Mary Temple (née Clavering), Lady Palmerston (d. 1869), Broadlands; her grandson, the Rt. Hon. Evelyn Ashley (1836-1908), Broadlands; his sale, London, Christie's, 24 April 1891, one of five in lot 147: "Eeckhout. The Nativity; and a Young Woman Sleeping"; Sir John Charles Robinson (1824-1913), Edinburgh and London; possibly his sale ["Well-known Amateur"], London, Christie's, 12-14 May 1902, lot 199: "Maes (Nicholas). Woman Asleep - red chalk and bistre"; Charles Fairfax Murray (1849-1919), London and Florence; from whom purchased through Galerie Alexandre Imbert, Rome, in 1909 by Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913), New York (no mark; see Lugt 1509); his son, J. P. Morgan, Jr. (1867-1943), New York.
Associated names: 

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, 1606-1669, Formerly attributed to.
Eeckhout, Gerbrand van den, 1621-1674, Formerly attributed to.
Palmerston, Henry Temple, Viscount, 1739-1802, former owner.
Palmerston, Henry John Temple, Viscount, 1784-1865, former owner.
Palmerston, Emily Lamb, Viscountess, 1787-1869, former owner.
Ashley, Evelyn, 1836-1907, former owner.
Robinson, J. C. (John Charles), Sir, 1824-1913
Murray, Charles Fairfax, 1849-1919, former owner.
Morgan, John Pierpont, 1837-1913, former owner.

Bibliography: 

Collection J. Pierpont Morgan : Drawings by the Old Masters Formed by C. Fairfax Murray. London : Privately printed, 1905-1912, I, 199, repr. (as Rembrandt)
Stampfle, Felice. Rubens and Rembrandt in Their Century : Flemish and Dutch Drawings of the Seventeenth Century from The Pierpont Morgan Library. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1979, no. 121, repr.
Jane Shoaf Turner, with contributions by Felice Stampfle, Dutch Drawings in the Pierpont Morgan Library: Seventeenth to Nineteenth Centuries, New York, 2006, cat. no. 147.

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