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January 11, 1957 Dear Mr. Emerson: Following the conversation you will recall our having had some time this autumn, about the "Portrait of Hubert Robert" by Fragonard - and having had an opportunity of writing to Mr. Jacques Wilhelm, Head of the Musee Carnavalet in Paris - I thought I would consult him about the [[underlined]]date[[/underlined]] at which he considers this Portrait was carried out by Fragonard. Mr. Wilhelm, as you probably know, is one of the, if not the best authority on Fragonard, an impartial man who is about to publish an extensive work on this artist. In the past few years he also wrote quite a number of articles, introductions to catalogues, etc., pertaining to Fragonard. It is only a few days ago that I received a long letter from Mr. Wilhelm, answering the several topics I had mentioned, and as regards the Portrait, you will find here below his paragraph in extenso in French:- "Quant au portrait d'H. Robert, je pensais aussi qu'il avait pu etre peint soit a Rome meme, vers 1760, soit a Paris, a partir de 1766 puisque Robert ne revint qu'a cette date, en France. J'avais tendance a considerer cette magnifique toile, comme l'un des premieres "portraits-esquisses" de Frago. Mais ai-je raison. "Hall, dans ses Memoires, parle du temps ou Frago "faisait les portraits au premier coup, pour un Louis". Ce tarif montre que c'etait a ses debuts. Enfin, Robert y est figure jeune, il me semble. Je ne puis preciser davantage." Should you wish me to translate the above, I will gladly do so, but meanwhile you will have a further official reference to add to the many others you already possess on this great painting. Trusting you may find the above of interest, and with best personal regards, Sincerely yours, Germain Seligman Guy Emerson, Esq. Samuel H. Kress Foundation 221 West 57th Street New York 19, N. Y. ^[[JS]}
Transcription Notes:
The French part contains accents on some of the letters that I was not able to reproduce in the transcript.