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2. is a beautiful emerald green, which places the man well behind the table, and that, together with the blue background, makes a wonderfully brilliant effect. The scroll at the top came away completely, and De Wild was able to preserve the beautiful blue background underneath - which, owing to the hardness of the paint, was no easy task. The picture will be leaving here the beginning of next week. Lane is so delighted with it that he now talks about asking £80,000 for it. I simply put these facts before you, which you can act upon, or not, as you think fit. Personally, I would rather give £80,000 for the picture as I see it to-day, than to have given £50,000 for it when there was so much uncertainty. With kind regards, Yours sincerely, Signed C. S. Carstairs

Encs.