Hero, Ursula, and Beatrice in Leonato's Garden (act 3, scene 1 from Much Ado About Nothing)

Provenance

Reverend Matthew William Peters [1742-1814], England; commissioned by Alderman John Boydell [1720-1804], London, England, ca. 1788; sold at the Shakespeare Gallery sale, May 20, 1805, lot no. 44, to George Stainforth for Sir Francis Baring, 1st Baronet [1740-1810], Stratton Park, Hampshire, England [1], [2]; by descent to his son, Sir Thomas Baring, 2nd Baronet [1772-1848], Stratton Park, Hampshire, England and London, England [3]; his son, Francis Thornhill Baring, 1st Baron Northbrook [1796-1866], London, England and Stratton Park, Hampshire, England; his son, Thomas George Baring, Lord Northbrook, subsequently 1st Earl of Northbrook [1826-1904], London, England and Stratton Park, Hampshire, England; Francis Baring, 2nd Earl of Northbrook [1850-1929], Stratton Park, Hampshire, England and London, England, until 1929; sold at Stratton Park Furnishings sale, November 1929, lot no. 495 [4]. Arthur L. Nicholson, Llandaff House, Weybridge-on-Thames, Surrey, England, by May 1933 [5]; Nicholson sale, American Art Association, Anderson Galleries, Inc., New York, NY, May 18, 1933, no. 33 [6]; sold to Mrs. Alexander C. Speyer [1889-1979], Pittsburgh, PA [7]; by descent to her children Alexander C. Speyer, Jr., Darthea Speyer, and Nora Fromboluti; gift to Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA, December 2002 [8].

Notes:
[1]. See copy of sale information from the Getty Provenance Index in curatorial file. Sold for £57 15s.
[2]. See "Matthew William Peters, R.A., His Life and Work" by Lady Victoria Manners, London, 1913.
[3]. He lent the painting to the 1817 exhibition at the British Institution in London.
[4]. The painting, lot no. 495, was illustrated in the Stratton Park sale catalogue; the sale was held on location on November 27-29, 1929. The painting sold for 540 guineas (£567, the highest price obtained at the sale.) See curatorial file for annotated copy of the auction catalogue and press clippings reporting on the sale.
[5]. The back of the stretcher contains a sticker from an unknown sale, lot 28. This might be the sale from which Nicholson acquired the painting or a previous attempt by him to sell it before the May 1933 sale in New York.
[6]. Sale 4045, which included "Valuable Paintings, The Property of Arthur Nicolson, Esq."
[7]. According to annotated sale catalogue at the Frick Library, the painting sold to Mrs. A. C. Speyer for $400.
[8]. The painting was on loan deposit at Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA, from ca. 1965. It was accessioned in February 2003.