• Antonin Proust, Paris (acquired from the artist, 2 January 1883) per Christie's description and following.
• Jean-Baptiste Faure, Paris (acquired from the above, by 1902).
• Galerie Durand-Ruel et Cie., Paris (acquired from the above, 13 March 1907).
• Durand-Ruel Galleries, New York (acquired from the above, 24 November 1909).
• Colonel Oliver H. Payne, New York (acquired from the above, 1909).
• By descent from the above.
• Purchased by the J. Paul Getty Museum at a Christie's sale, New York, 5 November 2014: Price realized $65,125,000 _{includes Hammer Price and Buyer's Premium}

• Paris, L'Exposition des Beaux-Arts (Salon de 1882), no. 1754, salle VII per Christie's description and following.
• Paris, Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Exposition posthume Manet, 1884, no. 105.
• Paris, Exposition universelle internationale, Centennale de l'Art français, 1889, no. 495.
• Paris, Galeries Durand-Ruel et Cie. and Berlin, Paul Cassirer, Exposition de 24 Tableaux et Aquarelles par Manet Formant la collection Faure, March 1906, p. 14, no. 23.
• London, Fine Art Palace, Franco-British Exhibition: The British School of Painting, August 1908, no. 330.
• Paris, Palais du Domaine de Bagatelle, Rétrospective de portraits de femmes, 1909, p. 32, no. 135 (illustrated, p. 31).
• Paris, Musée des arts décoratifs, Cinquante ans de peinture française, 1875-1925, May-July 1925, no. 43 (illustrated).
• New York, Carroll Carstairs, The 1870s in France, 1938, p. 9 (illustrated, p. 8).
• New York, Wildenstein & Co., Inc., A Loan Exhibition of Fashion in Headdress, 1450-1943, April-May 1943, no. 93 (illustrated).
• New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Paintings from Private Collections, 1960, no. 60; 1961, no. 46; 1962, no. 37; 1963, no. 33; 1966, no. 83.
• New York, Wildenstein & Co., Inc., Art and the Decorator, April-May 1967 (illustrated).
• New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Collects, July-September 1968, no. 91 (incorrectly dated 1841).
• Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, July 1993-May 2014 (on extended loan).

Signature and date bottom left:

• Le Printemps was the second in a projected series of portraits representing the four seasons. Previously Manet had painted Automne in the series, a portrait of the French actress Méry Laurent. Likewise Le Printemps was a portrait of the actress Jeanne de Marsy. Unfortunately Manet did not live to complete the series.

The painting was exhibited at the 1882 salon along with A Bar at the Folies-Bergère (in the latter painting the leftmost figure in white in the mirror reflection behind the barmaid is a cameo of Jeanne de Marsy). It was purchased by Colonel Oliver H. Payne in 1909 from the Durand-Ruel Galleries in New York and remained in the family estate up to its 5 November 2014 sale at Christie's, New York. As such it was the last surviving example of Manet's salon work to remain in private hands, although it was on extended loan to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, over the preceding two decades. It has the distinction of being the first painting to be reproduced in colour:

"The success of both paintings in the Salon of 1882 led to a wide-spread call for reproduced images of both Le Printemps and Au Bar [i.e. A Bar at the Folies-Bergère]. The latter, however, did not lend itself to reproduction without halftones, and Le Printemps became the Manet image in demand. Manet made an India ink drawing in 1882 after the painting (Rouart and Wildenstein, vol. II, no. 439), which became the basis for an etching with aquatint done soon afterwards ([Marcel] Guérin, no. 66), the artist’s final work in this medium. Charles Cros produced a trichromatic photograph of the painting, printed in reverse, which was used to illustrate the cover of Ernest Hoschedé’s Impressions de mon voyage au Salon de 1882 (op. cit., 1882)" per Christie's lot notes.

• The painting realized $65,125,000 at a Christies's sale 5 November 2014, New York. This was a record auction price for a Manet painting.^[1] The purchaser was the J. Paul Getty Museum.^[2]

1. ↑ Crow, Kelly. "Christie’s Sale Boosted By $65.1 Million Manet; Leger Flops". Wall Street Journal.
2. ↑ Vogel, Carol. "A Manet Portrait Fuels High Prices on a Competitive Night for Christie’s". New York Times. Archived from the original on 2016-08-31. Retrieved on 2018-01-03.

• Christie's video.
• D. Rouart and D. Wildenstein, Edouard Manet: Catalogue Raisonné, Paintings, Lausanne and Paris, 1975, vol. I, p. 276, no. 372 (illustrated, p. 277) and see also Christie's description (archived).

• 
  Christie's 2014 sale image (another version)
• 
  Etching
• 
  Engraving
• 
  Manet's drawing
• 
  Etching
• 
  Early photograph (Charles Cros?)
• 
  Chromo lithograph, the first colour reproduction of a painting
• 
  A photograph of Jeanne de Marsy towards 1890