Documents associated with: 83rd exhibition, Ouvrages de peinture, sculpture, architecture, gravure et lithographie des artistes vivants, Palais des Champs Elysées, Paris, 1865
Record 2 of 6
System Number: 08040
Date: [February/March 1865][1]
Author: JW
Place: London
Recipient: Henri Fantin-Latour[2]
Place: [Paris]
Repository: Library of Congress
Call Number: Manuscript Division, Pennell-Whistler Collection, PWC 1/33/21
Document Type: ALS[3]
'18'
7. Lindsey Row
Old Battersea bridge
Chelsea
Mardi '1865'
Ton tableau[4] est splendide! Je viendrai le 20. Mars - costume Japonai[5] avec - je te réponds immédiatement et à la plus grande hâte - si je t'ai fait la moue en putain, maintenant en vraie putain je te fais la cour pour avoir la belle place - celle du devant[6] - pense à la robe - superbe à faire, et donnes la moi! - Je t'écrirai d'içi quelques jours - la Japonaise[7] me prend depuis le matin au [p. 2] Soir - Elle a été mise de coté jusquà present à cause de maladie du model - Ca va être bien je crois - Ecris moi mon cher je t'en prie - dis moi deux mots sur Tissot[8] - je ne merite rien mais c'est si beau de pardonner.
Et Legros[9]? Il est vraiment trop bête - Je te dirai ça - Est il laché? - je n'ai pas remarqué sa place indiquée dans ton tableau? non je ne la trouve pas - hein? - J'ai fait encore un petit tableau Japonais[10] qui est ravissant! - Je l'enverrai chez Martinet[11] avec celui de Huth[12] - J'entends parler de tes bouquets[13] chez tous les Academiciens
Whistler
This document is protected by copyright.
Translation:
Your picture is splendid! I shall come on 20th March - with Japanese costume - I am replying immediately and in the greatest haste - if I have been making faces at you like a tart, now I am making advances like a real tart so that I can have the best place - in front - think of the robe - wonderful to do, so give it to me! - I shall write to you in a few days - the Japanese woman is taking me from morning to the evening - She was put aside until now because the model was unwell - I think she will be good - Write to me my dear fellow I beg you - tell me something about Tissot - I do not deserve anything but forgiveness is so excellent.
And Legros? He is really too stupid - I shall tell you about it - Has he been dropped? - I have not seen his place marked in your picture? no I cannot find it - well? - I have done another small Japanese picture which is delightful! - I shall send it to Martinet along with Huth's - I hear about your bouquets from all the Academicians
Notes:
1. [February/March 1865]
Dated by reference to exhibited work (see below).
2. Henri Fantin-Latour
Ignace-Henri-Jean-Théodore Fantin-Latour (1836-1904), artist [more].
3. ALS
'18' and '1865' are written in different hands at the top of p. 1.
4. tableau
H. Fantin-Latour, Hommage à la Verité: Le Toast (FL.271) (z111) was originally conceived as a meeting of the Société des Acquafortistes. A nude model was the original focus of attention, later changed to a portrait, possibly of Rembrandt or Velasquez. Male figures represented different arts. Variations on the sitters, theme and composition were tried, rejected, and never fully resolved. The painting was destroyed by the artist after being exhibited at 83rd exhibition, Ouvrages de peinture, sculpture, architecture, gravure et lithographie des artistes vivants, Palais des Champs Elysées, Paris, 1865, cat. no. 782. (See Druick, Douglas and Michel Hoog, Fantin-Latour, Paris, 1982, pp. 179-90).
5. costume Japonai
JW posed in Japanese costume; he had asked Fantin-Latour in a previous letter to tell the proprietors of La porte chinoise in the rue de Rivoli to set aside Japanese costumes for him (#08037).
6. celle du devant
Underlined in pencil.
7. la Japonaise
La Princesse du pays de la porcelaine (YMSM 50). Christine Spartali (1845?-1884), later Countess Edmond de Cahen [more], posed twice a week in the winter of 1863-64, but her illness delayed the completion of the painting.
8. Tissot
Jacques ('James') Joseph Tissot (1836-1902), painter and etcher [more].
9. Legros
Alphonse Legros (1837-1911), painter, etcher and art teacher [more].
10. petit tableau Japonais
Caprice in Purple and Gold: The Golden Screen (YMSM 60) was exhibited at 97th Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts, Royal Academy, London, 1865, cat. no. 90, as 'The Golden Screen'.
11. Martinet
Louis Martinet (1814-1895), history painter, Directeur des Beaux-Arts [more].
12. Huth
Louis Huth (1821-1905), collector [more]. Huth bought Symphony in White, No. 3 (YMSM 61), but it is not known exactly when he received it.
13. bouquets
Whether it was through JW or not, John ('Spanish') Phillip (1817-1867), artist [more], bought two 'bouquets' for 25gns (H. Fantin-Latour, Fleurs de printemps et fraises,private collection (z112), and H. Fantin-Latour, Fleurs de printemps avec une tasse et une soucoupe (z113); see Druick, op. cit., cat. nos. 30-31).