A long and beautiful letter from Edgar Degas about his family in Buenos Aires.
"I still feel with emotion that you have maintained a certain loyalty and devotion to your old friends."
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"I still feel with emotion that you have maintained a certain loyalty and devotion to your old friends."
Sold
Edgar Degas (1834.1917)
Autographed letter signed to Sophie Niaudet-Berthelot.
Four octavo pages on mourning paper.
No place. October 16 [1895 or 1896]
"I still feel with emotion that you have maintained a certain loyalty and devotion to your old friends."
Degas recounts the situation of his brother-in-law Henri Fèvre in Argentina.
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“My dear Sophie, You were kind enough, and it didn’t surprise me, to write to me that you had softened your reply to poor Fèvre [Henri Fèvre, Degas’s brother-in-law]. Your letter must have arrived around the same time as mine, which was, I fear, rather harsh. I am always moved to see that you have retained something faithful and devoted to your old friends. They were truly unfortunate, without ever having deserved it.”
Fèvre has once again taken a liking to an idea , and has been writing to me about it two or three times a month for some time now. He would like to persuade the Argentine government to decree the establishment of a credit bank for entrepreneurs, modeled on the sub-company for entrepreneurs that exists here and where our friend Rouart is employed. There is a great deal of construction underway and plans to build in Buenos Aires . He is counting on the Argentinians to take his idea into account and reward his initiative. Mr. Marchand supports him. Fèvre's confidence, as you can well imagine, is always admirable. Give my best regards to poor Grenier. Needless to say, you should always trust in the affection of your old friend Degas. All my best to Berthelot.
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Eight years younger than Degas, Marguerite (1842-1895) was one of her brother's favorite models. In 1865, she married the architect Henri Fèvre (1828-1900), whom she followed to Argentina in 1889. In a precarious financial situation following some bad business deals, Fèvre hoped for a fresh start. The tone of the letter reveals how little Degas trusted his brother-in-law, who, he says with irritation, "has once again fallen for an idea." Degas never saw his sister again; she died in Argentina in 1895 at the age of 53.
Sophie Niaudet-Berthelot (1837-1907), niece of Louis Breguet and wife of Marcellin Berthelot, was the first woman buried in the Pantheon.