Camille PISSARRO writes to Claude MONET for the MANET banquet.

Camille Pissarro (1830.1903)

Autographed letter signed to Claude Monet.

Three pages in-8°.

Éragny-sur-Epte. Undated [late December 1884 or early January 1885]

"The letter written at the Manet banquet is designed in such a way that I refrain from attending it."

A remarkable letter from Pissarro to Monet mentioning the publication of À Rebours , the death of Édouard Manet's brother, Gustave, and the banquet planned in homage to their late friend Édouard Manet. A magnificent testament to the friendship that bound these two masters of Impressionism.

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" My dear Monet, I will be in Paris around January 5th , I hope we will see each other there, because I suppose that the dinner will take place on the 7th or the 8th [the Manet banquet was held on January 5, 1885], in case of a change of mind I will know.

I sent you Huysmans' book [Huysmans had just published his masterpiece, À rebours ]. I intended to write to you every day, but I've been so busy here. Did you receive any news of Gustave Manet's death? Most certainly… bad luck, the family name will only be perpetuated by the works of the master [Édouard Manet], as there are no descendants to date.

You will be most kind, my dear Monet, if you would convey, on behalf of myself and Lucien, our deepest respects to Madame Hoschedé and her family. In my last letter, I was so surprised and pressed for time by the post that I rudely omitted a few lines of thanks to Madame Hoschedé for her kind reception. Will I be forgiven? Until we meet again, my dear Monet. I shake your hand and wish you and your children a happy new year. C. Pissarro.

NB. I forgot. The letter written at the Manet banquet is designed in such a way that I refrain from being a part of it.

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The Manet banquet was held (at the initiative of Antonin Proust) on January 5, 1885, at the home of Père Lathuile – a high place of Impressionist gatherings celebrated by Manet in his work of 1879: Chez le père Lathuile – , to celebrate the anniversary of the Manet exhibition at the École des Beaux-Arts and to pay homage to the master who died on April 30, 1883.

Paul Alexis Trublot published these few lines in Le Cri du Peuple on January 8th, seemingly confirming Pissarro's presence: “ So, there were one hundred and thirty of us. — Some have said one hundred and fifty, even two hundred; but let's not exaggerate: there were one hundred and thirty of us. — The best thing about the dinner was the menu, because each guest was given a complimentary etching, reproducing Chez le Père Lathuile, one of Édouard Manet's most vibrant paintings.  The immense horseshoe-shaped table was a lovely sight: but it was a bit cramped. The names? Do I need to tell them to you? With a shorter beard and hair, looking a little older, Mr. Antonin Proust was seated between Messrs. Zola and Fantin-Latour. The affable Mr. Leenhoff, the young brother-in-law whom Manet loved like a son, sat opposite him.” Then, pell-mell, colleagues and painters. The latter could be divided into two groups: on the one hand, the "Impressionists" in their entirety: Messrs. Monet, Degas, Pissarro, Renoir, Caillebotte, Raffaëlli, and then a large number of those whom I would call "the opportunists of painting"—Messrs. Gervex, Roll, Cazin, and Goenoutte, for example—that is to say, flexible, skillful artists who, influenced by Manet, undoubtedly produced modernist work, but without breaking with the school…