Possibly commissioned by Dr. Richard Mead [1673 1754], London; (his estate sale, Langford, London, 20 22 March 1754, 3rd day, no. 43, paired with no. 42, A Pastoral Conversation); Alderman William Beckford [1709 1770], London and Fonthill, Wiltshire, or his brother, Richard Beckford [d. 1756], London.[1] Roger Harenc [d. 1763], London;[2] (his estate sale, Langford, London, 1 3 March 1764, 3rd day, no. 52, a pair with A Musical Conversation [each day's lots begin with no. 1]); Augustus Henry, 3rd duke of Grafton [1735 1811], Euston Hall and London. acquired between 1851 and 1857 by Thomas Baring [1799 1873];[3] by inheritance to his nephew, Thomas George Baring, 1st earl of Northbrook [1826 1904], London; (Asher Wertheimer, London); purchased 1888 by (Thos. Agnew and Sons, Ltd., London); sold the same year to Edward Cecil Guinness, 1st earl of Iveagh [1847 1927], Elveden Hall, Suffolk, and Iveagh, County Down;[4] by inheritance to his third son, Walter Edward Guinness, 1st baron Moyne [1880 1944], London. Baron Heinrich Thyssen Bornemisza [1875 1947], Schloss Rohoncz, Rechnitz, Hungary, and Amsterdam, by 1930; (Wildenstein & Co., Inc., Paris, New York, and London), by c. 1936;[5] purchased 1942 by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York; gift 1946 to NGA.

[1] See Robert Raines, "Watteau and 'Watteaus' in England before 1760," Gazette des Beaux Arts 51 (February 1977): 62, for a discussion of which Beckford might have purchased the painting. William was his brother Richard's heir, and although William always resided in England, Richard lived mostly on the family's plantations in Jamaica. He only lived in London from late 1754 until late the next year, and he died in France early in 1756. If Richard owned the painting, it might possibly have been part of the "useful and ornamental furnishings" of his London house that were sold by his executors in April 1756 to Sir James Colebrooke, whose name is sometimes included in the provenance. See F.H.W. Sheppard, Survey of London, vol. 33, The Parish of St. Anne Soho, London, 1966: 89, for details about ownership of the house by Beckford

and subsequent purchasers.

[2] Sometimes spelled "Harene." The title page of the 1764 sale catalogue clearly spells the name with a final "c." If this is the same Roger Harenc whose daughter, Susanna Mary Harenc, married Sir Archibald Edmonstone, 1st baronet Edmonstone, Harenc appears to have been born in Paris, came to England in the early 1720s, married an Englishwoman, and prospered in business. He is recorded as the buyer of Watteau paintings in sales in England in the 1740s and 1750s.

[3] Gustav Friedrich Waagen, Treasures of Art in Great Britain: Being an Account of the Chief Collections of Paintings, Drawings, Sculptures, Illuminated Manuscripts, 3 vols. and Supplement, London, 1854 and 1957: Supplement(1957): 96 97, records acquisitions to the Baring collection since his visit in 1851.

[4] See Richard Kingzett of Agnew, letter to Colin Eisler, 21 November 1968, NGA curatorial files: "[W]e bought the picture from the famous dealer, Wertheimer, in 1888 and sold it to Lord Iveagh in the same year. No provenance is given in our entry for the picture." Later references identify the Wertheimer as Asher, rather than his brother Charles, who was also an art dealer.

• https://www.wga.hu/html/w/watteau/antoine/2/20italia.html 
• National Gallery of Art artwork ID: 32687 
• Kress Collection Digital Archive ID: 1130 
• Google Arts & Culture asset ID: fQHyFQRBSQLiyg