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279 West 4th Street,
New York 14
April 15, 1952

Dear Mr. Seligmann,

I remembered after leaving you today a Pompeian painting of the centaur Chiron teaching Achilles to play the lyre.  I could not find in searching among my books any Greek or Latin text that speaks of Chiron in this sense; but in a Greek writer of the Roman period, Philostratus, who describes paintings, there is an account of a picture of Chiron and Achilles in which it is said that the eye of the centaur is gentle because he has become cultured through music. The base violin is, of course, modern; in some vague way, it seems poetically right as the centaur's instrument.  I wonder if there is some reference to music in Maurice de Guerin's Centaurs, a work Redon probably had read.  I haven't it at hand, but will re-read it one of these days.

I enjoyed very much the hour with Redon and yourself in your gallery today.

Sincerely yours,

^[[signed]]Meyer Schapiro[[/signed]]

^[[Meyer Schapiro]]