Lettre à Albert Hecht

Details

Edouard Manet (1832-1883)
Lettre à Albert Hecht
signed 'E. Manet' (lower right); inscribed 'Bellevue 41 route des Gardes'
watercolour and pen and ink on paper (authographed manuscript from the artist to Albert Hecht)
8 1/8 x 4 7/8in. (20.5 x 12.6cm.)
Executed in Bellevue in September-October 1879

Provenance

The watercolours part of an authographed manuscript from the artist to Albert Hecht, sent in 1879.
Mme Pontremoli, Paris.
Mme Trenel, Paris.

Literature

D. Rouart & D. Wildenstein, Edouard Manet. Catalogue raisonné. Tôme II, Pastels, aquarelles et dessins, Geneva, 1975, no. 591 (illustrated p. 211).

Special notice

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Lot Essay

This invitation to lunch was sent by Manet to his friend Albert Hecht in September-October 1879 from his stay in the spa of Bellevue, where the artist used to recover from the frenetic rhythms of the capital. He first reassured Hecht on his health, then invited him to Bellevue: 'Mon cher ami, je vais beaucoup mieux. Le bon air de Bellevue m'est très favorable. Venez donc nous demander à déjeuner un de ces jours vous nous ferez le plus grand plaisir...'. As was Manet's fashion when writing to his closest friends, two watercolours - of a couple of plums, favoured by the artist for their subtle chromatic nuances, and two cherries - charmingly complete the letter.

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