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NEW YORK, 355, FIFTH AVENUE. --- PARIS, 2, RUE GLÜCK, --- CABLE ADDRESSES KNOEDLER, LONDON. KNOEDLER, NEW YORK. KNOEDLER, PARIS. TELEPHONE 1373 GERRARD. --- 15, OLD BOND STREET, LONDON, W.

Translation Copystruck out of letter from Monsieur Dagnan Bouveret on the subject of his picture "Consolatrix Afflicroum" June 16th 1903

Dear Sir It is impossible for me to furnish Messrs Tooth and Frick with what they ask me for. Only a scholar or a poet would be equal to the task. It is only in literary form that my picture "Consolatrix Afflictorum" can be explained; or rather it explains itself. Each person interprets it according to the way in which it appeals to his imagination. The best thing to be done would be to ask a poet to interpret what I wished to convey. He may either see in it the religious idea which consoles, or Nature, who reserves for these who suffer a word of comfort; it matters not. I had no precise idea. Like the timid fawn which has sought a refuge in the folds of the ample cloak, the man in trouble, who has fallen prostrate, is also seeking sanctuary. And this refuge I wished it to express the widest