MANET (Édouard). Autograph letter signed to Eva Gonzalès. Pa - Lot 185

MANET (Édouard). Autograph letter signed to Eva Gonzalès. Paris, "samedi", [May 15, 1875, according to the postmark]. One p. in-12, letterhead printed at his rue de Saint-Pétersbourg address, envelope retained. "Mademoiselle Eva, I'll go tomorrow around 11 a.m. to see if your painting is finished or at least very close to being finished, as the fine weather must make you want to start something else..." Impressionist painter and only pupil of Édouard Manet, Éva Gonzalès (1849-1883) trained first with Chaplin and then with Brinon, but her temperament inclined her more towards Manet's frankness of expression. She was introduced to him and he agreed to guide her, instilling confidence and enthusiasm. Her first success came at the 1870 Salon, where Manet exhibited a magnificent portrait of her. Éva Gonzalès was the daughter of writer Emmanuel Gonzalès and wife of engraver Henri Guérard (a close friend of Édouard Manet), and inspired Théodore de Banville to write the twelfth of his Camées parisiens.