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In the catalogue for the 1917 exhibition held in Den Haag to mark 100 years since the artist’s birth, Johannes Bosboom’s study is listed as belonging to Abel Labouchère. Labouchère owned a tile factory in Delft, and died in 1940 at the age of 80. Little is known about the fate of these works of art either during the collector’s lifetime or after his death.

Prior to April 1944, this drawing must have been in the possession of the Muller auction house in Amsterdam; it is listed in an auction catalogue there. Alois Miedl owned the “Aryanised” Goudstikker art dealership and was another key figure related to Nazi art looting. He acquired the drawing from Muller and, in June of that year, sold it on for 4,000 guilders to the “Linz Special Commission” via the art historian Erhard Göpel. In May 1940, the Netherlands had been occupied by the German Wehrmacht. From then on, Göpel procured numerous works on the local art market, mainly from dealers and at auctions.

There is no definite evidence of the watercolour’s location between 1917 and 1944, but suspicions have been cast on its provenance because of the little information that is currently available. As a result, it has been reported as a found object in the Lost Art database: http://www.lostart.de/EN/Fund/578922