 The Magdalen Reading can first be traced to an 1811 sale of the estate of Cassino , a little @-@ known collector in <unk> , when the work was already cut down . The painting is recorded in the inventory of <unk> <unk> , also of <unk> . After passing to the <unk> brothers , who were leading dealers in art of the early Netherlandish period , it moved to the collector Edmond <unk> in Paris , whose " small but choice " collection of early Netherlandish paintings was purchased for the National Gallery , London by Charles Lock <unk> in 1860 ; an acquisition that also included two Robert Campin portraits and panels by Simon <unk> ( 1425 – 1489 ) . This was during a period of acquisition intended to establish the international prestige of the gallery . Probably before 1811 , all the background except the red robe on the left and the alabaster jar and <unk> was overpainted in plain brown , which was not removed until the cleaning begun in 1955 . In general the " painted surface is in very good condition " , although better in the parts that were not overpainted , and there are a few small losses . 
