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^[[Baderou]]

December 23, 1954

Dear Mr. Baderou:

It was a great disappointment for me to have had to leave Paris without another opportunity of seeing you. My schedule of trips had, unfortunately, to be completely altered on account of weather conditions.

May I take the liberty of inquiring whether you were able to see Mr. Catroux and discuss with him the matter of the Schall painting? Looking up my files, I am not sure whether I sent to Maître Ader a photostat of the photograph of the engraving and am, therefore, enclosing it herein. It seems to me that he should have thus in his possession all necessary documentation in respect to the Basset pedigree and the Durand-Ruel auction. Namely, according to the information you were good enough to forward to me, this painting was part of a series of six by Schall based on episodes in the life of Mlle. de la Valliere, which were originally in the possession of Basset and were auctioned on May 9, 1874, after Basset's demise, in the catalogue drawn up by Durand-Ruel, the expert, under the numbers 31-35. The engravings of the paintings were made by L. Ch. Ruotte. They are mentioned in [[underlined]] Jean Frederic Schall [[/underlined]] by A. Girodie, Strasbourg, 1927, on pages 35 and 63.

Mr. Lefebvre-Foinet told me that he was going to call on you and obtain the group of illustrated catalogues and Salons by St. Aubin and settle the financial angle of it directly with you. I trust this was achieved in a manner entirely satisfactory to you, and may I take advantage of these lines to thank you anew for your great courtesy in this matter.

With my very best wishes to Mrs. Baderou and to you for a very happy New Year, and with best regards,

Sincerely yours,

Germain Seligman

Mr. Henri Baderou
25, rue du Faubourg St. Honoré
Paris 8, France