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October 4th, 1947

Dear Dr. Friedlander: 

Very many thanks for your charming note of September 20th., though I was disappointed to read that your trip to the States seemed to be postponed, but I do hope this is only temporary, and that we will meet here without fail ere long. 

I am sending you herein the photograph of a painting you know well, for you catalogued it in your Work on Roger van der Weyden under No. 33, and mentioned it on Page 41. It was previously in the Cardon Collection, then became the property of Mortimer L. Schiff, and was later inherited by his son, John M. Schiff. You may even have seen this painting when it was in the auction of the latter's collection in London, in 1938. 

If I am writing to you on this topic, it is because this painting has been given to me for sale, and as you may recall, you wrote in your book, in one place, that it was "stark verputzt" and in another "stark restauriert", and you know enough about our business to realize what a difficult hurdle this is to get over, when the God of Flemish paintings has thus spoken. 

Would you therefore allow me to ask you whether in looking at this photograph, which I have just had taken, you feel you could, to a certain extent, amend your previous statement? 

I am not surprised that you should have written as you did, after seeing the painting, for, having seen it myself at the time of the London auction, I had suggested to Mr. Schiff having the picture cleaned before the auction took place, to which he acquiesced, but due to the press of time this was unfortunately impossible. 

However, it was in Colin Agnew's hands during the war, and he had it carefully cleaned, and I must admit that the painting today looks very different from the one I had seen in '38. The firmness of the drawing is very visible, the modelling of the nose and mouth are all well indicated, and the bodice of the young man with its beautiful red, as well as the hands, seems to be in a remarkable state of preservation. The only parts which seem to have suffered to a certain extent are the background, perhaps some of the hair, and a small spot on the neck. 

I hope you will not mind my calling this to your attention, for how few are the Roger ven der Weyden portraits which are still today in their pristine condition. They probably all have suffered throughout the centuries, and it it, after all, but a question of proportion. 

I remember your writing in your book that outside of the portraits of the Dukes of Burgundy, you only recognize nine portraits of men and four portraits of women by Rogier, so that owning one should be considered as such