Viewing page 40 of 89

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

Prof. A. Chatain
Chicago   -3-   Mar.16.22

marvelous museum known as the Richard Wallace Museum. His Paris estate and all the Paris works of art Richard Wallace had in the Chateau de Bagatelle were left to his wife. She married a gentleman by the name of Mr. Scott; when he died, Mr. Scott left the whole estate to Lady Sackville West. We bough the whole Wallace collection from Lady Sackville and this is the finest pedigree for works of art which it is possible to have.

I am pretty certain that Mr. and Mrs. Stout will never in their life have another opportunity to acquire a set of furniture of this quality. It was made in the Beauvais Manufacture, which worked only for the King of France, that is why it was called "Royal Manufacture of Beauvais", and the drawings were made by Casanova. It will be easy for you to show in the library of the Chicago Museum something about Casanova, who is one of the most beloved painters of the Beauvais Manufacture, and if ever you come to Europe, my dear Mr. Chatain, we will take you to the Beauvais Museum where they have several Beauvais tapestries after the drawings of Casanova.

All what we write you above is guaranteed black on white to Mr. and Mrs. Stout, and the price of the set is Frs. 1.650.000.

You will understand, my dear Mr. Chatain, that if we send the whole set, it is because it would be impossible for Mr. and Mrs. Stout to judge the set without seeing it complete, and it is without discussion what they need in their little 18th century room.

We also send you a Renaissance piece of furniture. We must say that this piece of furniture is certainly the finest piece of wood-carving that you can imagine, and of the most delicious composition. It is of the second half of the 16th-century. It is true, if you look at it well, that there are one or two areas off, but you must draw Mr. Stout's attention to the fact that out of