The mood and palette of this pensive figure study relate it to Cézanne's celebrated series of paintings showing men playing cards. This particular individual does not appear in any of those pictures, but there can be no doubt that he, like the models for the card players, was one of the workers at the Cézanne family house in Aix-en-Provence.

[Probably Ambroise Vollard, Paris, possibly stock book A, no. 3427, as "Portrait d'homme assis les jambes croisées, les mains unies, fond gris 54 x 45," bought from the artist ca. 1899, for Fr 1,500]; [Josse Hessel, Paris]; Christian and Charlotte Mustad, Oslo (by 1918); Mustad family (until 1968; sold to Wildenstein); [Wildenstein, New York, 1968–74; sold to Haupt]; Mrs. Enid A. Haupt (1974–83; sold to Annenberg); her brother and his wife, Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg, Rancho Mirage, Calif. (1983–97; jointly with MMA, 1997–his d. 2002)

Kristiana [Oslo]. Kunstnerforbundet. "Den Franske utstilling i Kunstnerforbundet," January–February 1918, no. 10 (as "Portrait d'homme").

Stockholm. Svensk-Franska Konstgalleriet. "Mästerverk i Fransk 1800-Talskonst," December 1935, no. 4 (as "Portrait d'homme assis sur une chaise," lent by a private collection, Norway).

Philadelphia Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Impressionism & Post-Impressionism: The Annenberg Collection," May 21–September 17, 1989, unnumbered cat.

Washington. National Gallery of Art. "Masterpieces of Impressionism & Post-Impressionism: The Annenberg Collection," May 6–August 5, 1990, unnumbered cat.

Los Angeles County Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Impressionism & Post-Impressionism: The Annenberg Collection," August 16–November 11, 1990, unnumbered cat.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Impressionism & Post-Impressionism: The Annenberg Collection," June 4–October 13, 1991, unnumbered cat.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Cézanne's Card Players," February 9–May 8, 2011, no. 24.

Élie Faure. "Toujours Cézanne." L'Amour de l'art 1 (December 1920), ill. p. 268, as "Portrait de paysan".

Paul Jamot. "L'Art français en Norvège." La Renaissance 12 (February 1929), pp. 86, 104, ill., locates it in the collection of Christian Mustad; tentatively identifies the sitter as one of the models for "The Cardplayers" (Barnes Foundation, Merion, Pennsylvania; R706) [see Ref. Rishel 1991].

Lionello Venturi. Cézanne: son art—son oeuvre. Paris, 1936, vol. 1, p. 213, no. 691; vol. 2, pl. 224, no. 691, calls it "Paysan" and dates it 1895–1900; places it formerly in the collection of Josse [sic] Hessel, Paris.

Sandra Orienti in L'opera completa di Cézanne. [French ed., 1975; English ed., 1985]. Milan, 1970, p. 113, no. 605, ill.

Marcel Brion. Paul Cézanne. Milan, 1972, ill. p. 56 (color).

John Rewald. Cézanne: A Biography. New York, 1986, p. 277, ill. p. 206 (color), dates it 1898–1900.

Catherine Barnett. "A Very Private View: Inside Walter Annenberg's Personal Paradise." Art & Antiques 6 (March 1989), pp. 98–99, 106, ill. (color).

Joseph J. Rishel in Masterpieces of Impressionism & Post-Impressionism: The Annenberg Collection. Exh. cat., Philadelphia Museum of Art. Philadelphia, 1991, pp. 82–83, 184–85, 187, ill. (color and black and white), dates it 1895–1900; notes that although the sitter cannot be identified as one of the models in any of the versions of "The Cardplayers," "he almost certainly was, like them, one of the farm hands who worked at Cézanne's mother's house"; states that although still life elements appear often in Cézanne's male figure studies, they are unusually independent here, and that the figure itself takes on "the aspect of one more still-life element in the composition"; notes similarities between the sitter's clothes and those worn by Cézanne [see photographs in Ref. Rewald 1986, pp. 258–59].

John Rewald, in collaboration with Walter Feilchenfeldt, and Jayne Warman. The Paintings of Paul Cézanne: A Catalogue Raisonné. New York, 1996, vol. 1, p. 496, no. 827; vol. 2, ill. p. 289, calls it "Portrait de paysan assis" and dates it 1898–1900.

Gary Tinterow in "Recent Acquisitions, A Selection: 1996–1997." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 55 (Fall 1997), pp. 5, 57, ill. (color), dates it about 1892–96; notes that it relates in mood and palette to the series of cardplayers.

Nils Messel in Impressionism and the North. Late 19th Century French Avant-Garde Art and the Art in the Nordic Countries 1870–1920. Exh. cat., Nationalmuseum. Stockholm, 2002, p. 240, ill. p. 237 (color), calls it "Portrait of a Seated Farmer" and dates it 1898–1900.

Nina Maria Athanassoglou-Kallmyer. Cézanne and Provence: The Painter in His Culture. Chicago, 2003, p. 210, fig. 5.25 (color), calls it "Portrait de paysan assis" and dates it 1898–1900.

Bruno Ely. "'Pater omnipotens Aeterne Deus': L'achat et la vente du Jas de Bouffan par la famille Cézanne." Jas de Bouffan—Cézanne. Aix-en-Provence, 2004, ill. p. 25 (color).

Gary Tinterow in Masterpieces of European Painting, 1800–1920, in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2007, pp. 130, 225, no. 119, ill. (color and black and white).

Joseph J. Rishel in Masterpieces of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism: The Annenberg Collection. 4th rev. ed. [1st ed., 1989]. New York, 2009, pp. 157–61, 171 n. 1, no. 30, ill. (color), dates it about 1892–96 based on stylistic considerations, adding that it was definitely painted at the Jas de Bouffan before the sale of the property in September 1899; compares it to Cézanne's later series of the gardener Vallier (about 1905–6; Tate, London; R950 and Stiftung Sammlung E. G. Bührle, Zurich; R953).

John House in Cézanne's Card Players. Exh. cat., Courtauld Gallery. London, 2010, p. 55.

Nancy Ireson and Barnaby Wright in Cézanne's Card Players. Exh. cat., Courtauld Gallery. London, 2010, pp. 15, 20.

Barnaby Wright in Cézanne's Card Players. Exh. cat., Courtauld Gallery. London, 2010, pp. 148–51, no. 24, ill. (color, overall and detail), identifies this setting as apparently the same room as the MMA (61.101.1) and Barnes Foundation "Card Players" compositions (R707 and 706); notes that the same model appears in "Standing Peasant with Crossed Arms" (about 1895; Barnes Foundation, Merion, Penn.; R787); compares this picture to Cézanne's portrait of Vollard (1899; Musée du Petit-Palais, Paris; R811).

This picture is stylistically related to "Standing Peasant" (about 1895; Barnes Foundation, Merion, Penn.; R787), two variants of "Man with Folded Arms" (about 1899; private collection, New York and Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum; R850 and R851), and "Seated Peasant" (1904–6; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, R943).