Claude Monet (1840-1926)
Autograph letter signed ('Monet') to [Frédéric] Bazille, n.d. [Chailly, July or early August 1865]
In French. Two pages, 209 x 134mm, bifolium (split through at centre fold). Provenance: Sotheby's, 21 May 1987, lot 279.

Monet working on his Déjeuner sur l'herbe. Monet asks whether his paintings were ready in time to be dispatched and whether his bills were paid, and complains at Bazille not writing to him ('vous avez l’air de m’avoir mis complètement de côté'). Bazille has promised to help with Monet's current work (the Déjeuner sur l'herbe): 'You did promise to help me with my painting, you have to come and pose for some of the figures and without that my painting will be a failure ... I beg you, my dear friend, do not leave me in a quandary: all my studies are going splendidly, the only thing missing is the men. So come immediately: you can have nothing serious to keep you in Paris: here it is still wonderful, we are a small and rather agreeable group of artists ... I think only of my painting and if I should bungle it I think I would go mad. Everyone knows I am doing it and encourages me greatly, so it has to be done...'

Vous m’avez bien promis de m’aider pour mon tableau, vous devez venir me poser quelques figures et sans
cela je manque mon tableau aussi j’espère que vous tiendrez votre promesse et pourtant le temps se passe
et je ne vous vois pas venir. Je vous en sup[p]lie mon cher ami ne me laissez pas aussi dans l’embarras toutes mes études vont à merveille il ne me manque plus que les hommes venez donc de suite vous ne devez avoir rien de sérieux qui vous retient à Paris ici c’est toujours admirable nous sommes un petit noyaux d’artiste assez agréable … je ne pense plus qu’à mon tableau et si je devais le manquer je crois que j’en deviendrai fou tout le monde sait que je le fais et m’y encourage beaucoup il faut donc que cela se fasse

Monet's Déjeuner sur l'herbe was painted in 1865-6 as a response to Manet's 1863 painting of the same name: it was never completed, and after it was damaged by Monet's landlord (to whom he had given the canvas in lieu of rent), the artist cut it down. Only two large fragments now survive, at the Musée d'Orsay: Monet's close friend Frédéric Bazille is recognisable as the standing figure in the central panel. Published in Wildenstein's biography of Monet, no.20..