Inscription: Signed and dated (lower left): Boldini / 73

[Goupil & Cie, Paris, 1873; commissioned from the artist, presumably on behalf of Wolfe; sold on November 13, for $3,500, to Wolfe]; Catharine Lorillard Wolfe, New York (1873–d. 1887)

New York. Century Association. "Virtuosity in Painting: Works by Fortuny, Boldini, Domingo, Blum, Chase & Others," January 12–27, 1935, no. 5.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Van Gogh as Critic and Self-Critic," October 30, 1973–January 6, 1974, no. 18.

Padua. Palazzo Zabarella. "Boldini," January 15–June 12, 2005, no. 31.

Rome. Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna. "Boldini," June 23–September 25, 2005, no. 31.

Rovigo. Palazzo Roverella. "L'Ottocento Elegante: Arte in Italia nel segno di Fortuny 1860–1890," January 29–June 12, 2011, unnumbered cat. (p. 91).

Sophia Antoinette Walker. "Fine Arts: The Painting Master in the Wolfe Collection." Independent 46 (August 2, 1894), p. 12.

"The Metropolitan Museum of Art—The French Painters." New York Times (May 22, 1895), p. 4.

Harry B. Wehle. The Metropolitan Museum of Art: A Catalogue of Italian, Spanish, and Byzantine Paintings. New York, 1940, p. 302, ill.

Gary A. Reynolds. Giovanni Boldini and Society Portraiture: 1880–1920. Exh. cat., Grey Art Gallery and Study Center, New York University. New York, 1984, pp. 11–12, ill., compares Boldini's costume pictures to those of Meissonier and Fortuny, and notes that he painted them under contract for the dealer Goupil.

19th Century European Paintings, Drawings, Watercolors and Sculpture. Christie's, New York. November 1–2, 1995, p. 12, fig. 1, notes that this work is part of a series of small-scale paintings of eighteenth-century and Empire interiors commissioned by Goupil and other Parisian dealers, and that these paintings were the first works by the artist acquired by museums and dealers in the United States.

Rebecca A. Rabinow. "Catharine Lorillard Wolfe: The First Woman Benefactor of the Metropolitan Museum." Apollo 147 (March 1998), pp. 51, 54 n. 18, notes that Wolfe purchased this picture from Goupil & Co for $3,500. on November 13, 1873.

Bianca Doria. Giovanni Boldini: catalogo generale dagli archivi Boldini. Milan, 2000, vol. 1, colorpl. 50; vol. 2, unpaginated, no. 50, ill., calls it "Conversazione".

Piero Dini and Francesca Dini. "Catalogo ragionato della pittura a olio con un'ampia selezione di pastelli e acquerelli." Giovanni Boldini, 1842–1931: Catalogo ragionato. 3, Turin, 2002, part 1, pp. 90–91, no. 144, ill.

Rossella Campana in Boldini. Exh. cat., Palazzo Zabarella, Padua. Venice, 2005, pp. 120–21, no. 31, ill. (color).