The collection of Baron Denys Cochin

• 

  Courbet

  Presumed Portrait of Tony Marlet

  1851 · Canvas, 46 × 38 cm

  Private collection

  See in the collection

  Antoine-François Marlet, known as Tony, the painter’s childhood friend at Ornans, painted in 1851: Fernier, no. 120, follows it from the sale of 1882, where Juliette Courbet had bought it back for 680 francs, to the sale of her estate, Galerie Georges Petit, 9 July 1919, lot 17, knocked down at 6,000 francs to Barbazanges, then to Baron Denys Cochin^[1]. It thus came to him after his own sale of 26 March 1919, whose catalogue does not know it^[1].

  In his hands: Came in July 1919, from Barbazanges

  Today: In a private collection: Lichtenhahn in Basel, then Parke-Bernet in New York on 16 March 1960, lot 70, 4,600 dollars^[1]. Sotheby’s offered it in New York on 31 January 2020, lot 431, from a Japanese collection that had acquired it in 1994, with a provenance placing Baron Denys Cochin before the sale of July 1919^[2].

  Photograph from Sotheby’s on Wikimedia Commons, “Courbet - Portrait présumé de Tony Marlet, lot 431.jpg”, public domain

  Sources (2)

  1. 1.Robert Fernier, La Vie et l’œuvre de Gustave Courbet, catalogue raisonné, Lausanne et Paris, Fondation Wildenstein et La Bibliothèque des Arts, 1977, tome I : notices 120, 138, 175, 183 et 206, lues dans la bibliothèque numérique du Wildenstein Plattner Institute, tome I, p. 74, n° 120.

     Reference work · partly read (restricted access), 7 October 2026 · view ↗

     « Portrait de M. A. Marlet dit Tony Marlet. 1851. Toile, 0,46 x 0,38. Histoire : vente du 28 juin 1882, n° 15, Juliette Courbet, 680 frs — vente Juliette Courbet, Galerie Georges Petit, 9 juillet 1919, n° 17, adjugé 6 000 frs à Barbazanges — Baron Denys Cochin — Lichtenhahn, Bâle — vente Parke Bernet, New York, 16 mars 1960, n° 70, 4 600 dollars. »

  2. 2.Sotheby’s, New York, 19th Century European Art, 31 janvier 2020, lot 431 : Gustave Courbet, Portrait présumé de Tony Marlet, notice, provenance et bibliographie, lot 431, Provenance et Literature.

     Reference work · read in full, 7 October 2026 · view ↗

     « Property from a Private Collection, Japan. Portrait présumé de Tony Marlet, signed G. Courbet, oil on canvas, 46.4 by 38.1 cm. Estimate 30,000–50,000 USD. Provenance: Hôtel Drouot, June 28, 1882, lot 15 — Juliette Courbet — Baron Denys Cochin, Paris — Galerie Georges Petit, July 9, 1919, lot 17 — Galerie Barbazanges — Dr. Lucas Lichtenhahn, Basel — Baumgartner, sold Parke-Bernet, New York, March 16, 1960, lot 70 — Knoedler & Co., New York — acquired in Japan in 1994. Literature: Fernier, vol. I, no. 120. »