ALS signed “S. L. Clemens, Mark Twain,” two pages, 4.5 x 7, personal letterhead, Hartford, April 13, 1877. Letter to Miss Holmes. In full: “It gives me great pleasure to comply with your request. You will perceive that after seven years' devotion to Art I have improved considerably in figure drawing. I regard figure-drawing as my specialty although some think I am as good at landscapes & still life, these persons even carrying compliment so far as to say they cannot tell my landscapes from my still life, nor either of them from my marine views. In this portrait the President is not saying ‘Now I lay me down to Sleep.’ (See note under picture for explanation of the situation.)” The picture is not present. In very good condition, with text somewhat faded but still legible, a central horizontal fold, staple holes to top right, and a uniform shade of mild toning.
As Clemens wrote this letter, he deprecated his artistic ability with a slight jab at President Hayes. The "Miss Holmes" referred to here could be the English illustrator, watercolor artist and teacher Rhoda Holmes, who later married Burr H. Nicholls and moved to New York City. The humorist, who traveled extensively, spent part of 1871 in London and possibly could have met the artist while abroad.
While the author had been deprived of formal art education as a youth, he began sketching in his notebooks early on. Always the consummate observer, Clemens later wrote in a 1907 letter to Dorothy Quick, "I have never had a drawing lesson myself, but I know the great value of that art in training the eye to observe—also to see things as they are." Despite his lack of training, he used his drawings as mock-ups and guides for artists he hired to illustrate his books, working closely with them to render polished drawings that conveyed his vision; then with his brother Orion, selected the final art to be used before the novels went to press. As an adult, Clemens tried to study art, but never cultivated a theory of aesthetics or any consistent attitude, but openly expressed his opinions on art critics in his travelogues such as Innocents Abroad. However, he admired painting and preferred artists who appealed to the common man…as did his own writings. Pre-certified
