DEGAS (Edgar). Autograph letter signed [to... - Lot 26 - Osenat

Lot 26
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Result : 2 340EUR
DEGAS (Edgar). Autograph letter signed [to... - Lot 26 - Osenat
DEGAS (Edgar). Autograph letter signed [to the painter Henri Rouart]. Château de Ménil-Hubert-en-Exmes (near Gacé, in the Orne), n.d. 4 pp. in-8; one margin scorched, split at the fold. Edgar Degas was staying with Paul Valpinçon (cousin of the painter Gustave Caillebotte). He painted portraits of this great friend and his family, as well as interior views of the castle. "I too am going to the country. But what terrible weather, what heat and how hard I get used to it! How I would sleep all day, and how I am writing to you at about 4:00 a.m. with the shutters closed. It won't last, or I'll come back to town where the weather is too good to bear. Le Mans is 20 leagues from here, you are probably still there, but I am just arriving: and that will be for another time. And then a family arrives this evening who would not want to be the pretext for my escape. Your good letter was going to cross my path. I BEGIN BY LAYING ALL MY FEELINGS AT THE FEET OF YOUR TERRIBLE WIFE WHOM I AM NOT GOING TO VISIT AND WHO FORGIVES SO HARDLY PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT AS GOOD AS HER HUSBAND, WHO IS, SHE SAYS CONSTANTLY, TOO GOOD. I am not very good at appeasing her and I prefer to tell her all sorts of compliments about the young watercolorist to whom she has given birth. I have just used the same quotation to excite Hortense's [Paul Valpinçon's daughter] zeal and taste, which are only a little below average. Give my regards to the colonel [François-Michel Méliodon, artillery colonel] who knew how to give so much charm to the art of cannonading his enemies. Do you remember this story about Courbet: they were arranging his paintings at the exhibition he did alone at the Pont de l'Alma in 1867, and they came to tell him on his ladder that a group of people, claiming to be from a shooting society, wanted to enter by force: "Let them enter," he replied, "they must be people who see right". - Ah! if Méliodon did not shoot so well, would he see better? WHAT YOU TELL ME ABOUT THE YOUNG COLIN MAKES ME WANT TO SEE HIS SKETCHES. HOW BEAUTIFUL, THE NATURAL DISPOSITIONS, AND THE EASE, AND HOW MUCH MORE IS NEEDED! I'm looking forward to resting and getting back into the swing of things. I had fallen, despite the difficulties of the situation, into a deep boredom. It's going to be terribly necessary to plug the holes. I made some sales that will ensure this end of the year. So it's not all doom and gloom..."
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