Bidspirit auction | MONET MICHEL: (1878-1966)

MONET MICHEL: (1878-1966) - MONET MICHEL: (1878-1966) French art collector, the younger son of Claude Monet and Camille Doncieux, and the painter's principal heir and custodian of his artistic legacy. His important bequest to the Musée Marmottan Monet established the world's largest collection of works by Claude Monet. A.L.S., Michel Monet , two pages, 4to, Bramfield Road, Wandsworth Common, London, n.d. ( ´Friday morning´ ; 1900), to his stepmother, Alice Hoschedé Monet, in French. Monet writes a social letter, expressing his pleasure that Alice had liked his photographs, and stating that he will take some more on the following Sunday, informing her ´ Non, Leo n’est pas parmi les types qui sont avec moi. C’est aujourd’hui en huit que je pars à bicyclette à Folkstone (sic), je ne suis pas encore assez veinard pour pouvoir voyager en tri [train?] comme Jean-Pierre. Je ne serai pas seul pour faire la route, hier au soir j’ai rencontré un des mes copains qui le même jour que moi part pour Dover avec deux autres types que je connais également. Nous partirons de très bonne heure ou même peut-être dans la nuit´ (Translation: ´No, Léo isn’t one of the lads who are with me. A week from today I’m setting off by bicycle for Folkestone; I’m not yet lucky enough to be able to travel by tri [train?] like Jean-Pierre. I won’t be alone on the journey; last night I met one of my mates who is leaving for Dover on the same day as me, with two other lads whom I also know. We’ll set off very early, or perhaps even during the night´ ). Monet also states that he received a long letter from Blanche, and hopes that Alice´s trip to Paris was successful and that she didn´t return too tired, further remarking ´La mort de cet américain ami de Mrs Hart est bien effrayante. Si je ne me trompe je crois bien que j’ai déjeuné avec lui un jour à Paris avec Butler Mrs Hart et plusieurs autres´ (Translation: ´The death of that American friend of Mrs Hart’s is truly shocking. If I’m not mistaken, I quite believe I had lunch with him one day in Paris, along with Butler, Mrs Hart and several others´ ) and concludes by writing ´Mes amitiés à Butler et à Mrs Hart et bien des choses à Gemmy et Lilly´ (Translation: ´My best regards to Butler and Mrs Hart, and lots of love to Gemmy and Lilly´ ). Some light age wear and one small hole, only very slightly affecting a couple of words of text, G Alice Hoschedé Monet (1844-1911) French artists' model, wife of the art collector Ernest Hoschede and later of the Impressionist painter Claude Monet. Following the death of Michel Monet's mother, Camille Doncieux, in 1879, Alice effectively became a mother to Claude Monet's two sons, Jean and Michel, alongside her own six children. Blanche Hoschedé Monet (1865-1947) French painter, the daughter of Alice and Ernest Hoschedé and stepdaughter of Claude Monet, whose pupil and painting companion she became. In 1897 she married Claude Monet's elder son Jean, thereby becoming Michel's sister-in-law as well as his stepsister. Following Claude Monet's death she played an important role in preserving his house and gardens at Giverny. Theodore Earl Butler (1861-1936) American Impressionist painter and an important member of the artists' colony at Giverny. In 1892 Butler married Alice Hoschedé's daughter Suzanne, with whom he had two children, James and Lilly. Suzanne died in September 1899 and Butler subsequently married her sister Marthe in 1900, thus becoming closely integrated into the Monet-Hoschedé family. Mrs Hart, evidently an American acquaintance of the Monet-Hoschedé family, has not been conclusively identified. She may have been connected with the American painter William Howard Hart (1863-1937), a close associate of Theodore Earl Butler at Giverny; Butler painted Hart's portrait there in 1897, and Hart in turn painted a portrait of Butler. The identity of Mrs Hart's American friend whose death Michel describes as ´bien effrayante´ has likewise not been established. ´Gemmy´ is evidently Germaine Hoschedé (1873-1968), another daughter of Alice and Ernest Hoschedé and Michel Monet's stepsister. Germaine was also one of Claude Monet's occasional models and appears with her sisters Suzanne and Blanche in his painting En norvégienne (1887). Lili (Alice ´Lily´) Butler (1894- ) was the daughter of Theodore Earl Butler and Suzanne Hoschedé and consequently Alice Monet's granddaughter. She frequently appeared in her father's paintings, including The Card Players (1896), alongside her mother Suzanne, her aunt Marthe Hoschedé and the American painter William Howard Hart. She later worked for Harper's Bazaar in New York and moved in avant-garde artistic circles, becoming acquainted with Man Ray and Marcel Duchamp. She subsequently married Roger Toulgouat and was the mother of the painter and landscape architect Jean-Marie Toulgouat (1927-2006). Jean-Pierre Hoschedé (1877-1960) youngest son of Alice and Ernest Hoschedé and a near contemporary of Michel Monet.