Camille Pissarro (1830-1903)
Autograph letter signed with initials (‘C.P.’) to Georges [Pissarro], Rouen, 24 January 1896
In French. Two pages, 177 x 112mm, bifolium. Provenance: Sotheby's, 15 & 16 November 1982, lot 588.

On the challenge of capturing changeable weather. Pissarro discusses financial matters involving some money sent to Georges’s brother Lucien. He describes his progress with his work, writing that he has begun two new canvases with contrasting weather effects, but the weather is so changeable that he will have to start five or six in total, and hopes that he will be able to finish at least some of them: ‘J'ai commencé mes Toiles aujourd'hui deux effets de soleil avec brume et un temps gris l’après-midi ... Il est probable que ce temps ne va pas durer, je serai obligé de couvrir 5 à 6 Toiles de 30. J’espère que j’aurai la chance de terminer quelques uns'. A long postscript returns to financial questions with both Lucien and Georges, concluding 'Decidedly I am in need of a secretary; I am so preoccupied with the paintings I need to do that I make a mess of everything'.