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WELbeck
0687
0688

[[image]]

THE WALLACE COLLECTION
MANCHESTER SQUARE
LONDON, W.1
5th June 1953

My dear Mr. Seligman,

Thank you very much for your letter of 31st May which seems to have crossed with mine to you of 22nd May. I am interested to see the reproduction from The Connoisseur of the portrait of Louis XI formerly belonging to Lord Hertford and Sir John Murray Scott. I did not know previously that it was reproduced, although we have the complete run of The Connoisseur here. Do you happen to know what size the painting was, as it seems to be a curious thing for either Lord Hertford or Sir Richard to have possessed? It will be very interesting to see whether you are able to trace the Beauvais tapestry after Le Prince.

I am not quite sure what is meant by Louis XVI black furniture. There were a few pieces from this Collection which belonged to Sir Philip Sassoon at the time of his death, and some of them are now in the possession of his sister, Lady Cholmondeley, including the two Boulle wall-barometers which he exhibited at the Three French Reigns exhibition in 1933, organised by him at his London house., but the main part of his collection was left to Mrs Gubbay, as you probably know. Could "black" mean Boulle? It seems the most likely explanation.

With kind regards

Yours sincerely

Robert A. Cecil

Mr. Germain Seligman,
527 Fifth Avenue,
New York 21.