Claude Monet Christmas Eve ALS

A 4pp autograph letter in French signed by Impressionist artist Claude Monet (1840-1926), as "C.M." at the conclusion of a postscript. Written at Monet's home at Giverny par Vernon Eure, France on December 24, 1890. Boldly inscribed on either side of bi-fold paper in vivid purple ink, Monet's preferred color for correspondence. Expected wear including flattened mail folds, ink transference, ink bleed-through, and isolated water spots. A small oblong area affecting the first/fourth pages has been cut out and professionally replaced with similar colored and textured paper. Else good to very good. 4.5" x 7."

Monet wrote this letter to his friend Stéphane Mallarmé (1842-1898), the well-known French poet, art critic, salon host, and social influencer. Monet's oldest son Jean Monet (1867-1914), a sergeant in the Third Corps of the French Army, had been seriously ill that winter. Monet and Mallarmé had recently worked together to pull some bureaucratic strings in order to extend Jean's medical leave. Just a few days earlier, Monet had believed that Jean's case was drawing to a successful conclusion, but now, the results were more in question than ever.

Monet wrote Mallarmé in part: "I sent you a telegram this morning in receipt of your letter. Here now [is information] so that you are kept up to date about where things are…"

Monet reported that Gabriel Hanotaux and Georges Clemenceau had just seen Charles de Freycinet regarding Jean Monet's leave extension. As both Prime Minister of France as well as French Minister of War, Charles Freycinet was key in securing Jean Monet's medical leave. Gabriel Hanotaux (1853-1944) was a career civil servant who would serve as French Minister of Foreign Affairs in the 1890s. Georges Clemenceau (1841-1929) was then an influential member of the French Chamber of Deputies; he would become a future French premier himself.

Monet continued: "both [Hanotaux and Clemenceau] have thus informed me that since health reasons were invoked, it was impossible to grant a leave of absence without the young soldier being visited by a military doctor…" If the new prerequisites were not met, then "the poor boy will indeed leave on the 2nd…", Monet concluded mournfully, referring to January 2, 1891, the end of Jean's first authorized medical leave.

Claude Monet is considered a foundational figure in the artistic movement known as Impressionism; indeed, his 1872 painting entitled "Impression, Sunrise" inadvertently gave its name to the artistic school. No subject was too mundane for the Impressionists; to them, a haystack coated in frost or a pair of battered old shoes could be imbued with the same significance as a religious painting or an historical scene. Impressionists painted quickly, often using rapid and fluid brush strokes. In this way, their work was much more spontaneous, in spirit and form, than those sanctioned by the Academy. Monet's unique handwriting, with its series of disconnected vertical lines and flowing direction, resembles painting in more ways than traditional writing.

Claude Monet lived at Giverny, a village in Normandy located 76 km north of Paris, between 1883 and his death in 1926. During his residency there, Monet added a studio, expanded his gardens, and constructed a Japanese-inspired footbridge. His home was a combination of sophisticated and rustic; in the kitchen furnished with plain table and chairs, the yellow-painted walls were decorated with vivid Japanese woodblock prints.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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