This picture was included in the Exposition Universelle of 1867, and was bought from the artist in the same year by the Comte de Nieuwerkerque, Director of Museums, for Napoleon III, at the price of 2000 French francs. It was part of the Emperor's personal property, and was allotted to the Louvre by the Tribunal de la Seine, along with other paintings, on 12 February 1879. In 1881, it was exhibited in the Luxembourg, with the title "Le puits noir (The Black Ravine)", which is really the name of another work painted in 1869.