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French artist (1798–1863) who takes a place in the first rank of painters in the Romantic tradition and whose mastery of color and technique inspired both the Impressionist and Symbolist schools. Two handwritten letters in French from Eugene Delacroix, consisting of an ALS signed “Eu. D.,” and an unsigned handwritten letter, both addressed to his cousin and mistress, Josephine de Forget, who is also represented in this lot by an included ALS signed “Josephine.”
The unsigned letter from Delacroix, one page, both sides, 5.25 x 8, (June 15, 1851), reads, in part (translated): “I was going to write to you in response to your little note of yesterday. I wisely did not dine yesterday and I will do the same or almost the same today. I will only go to the Louvre and I will hardly work there. I have such a terrible fear of being ill now when I have only a few small efforts to make to reap the fruit of all the others…So be good enough to come and go without counting on me; I will try to go and see you after dinner today…I am reading your Constitutionnels…The impression is very good and I like the newspaper…I am in a very important moment which does not prevent me from feeling and telling you how much I thank you and love you.”
The ALS, one page, 5.25 x 8, (December 1858), finds Delacroix explaining how his cold comes and goes, as do his gout and rheumatism, and that the idea of going out and mixing with people exhausts him, in part: “But one of the joys that providence has been kind enough to grant me is that in a mediocre situation as far as fortune is concerned and with zero ambition, I am absolutely not forced to take any action or make any representations. I send you a thousand and one heartfelt affections…while waiting for the pleasure of telling you without coughing or spitting.” In overall fine condition. The two Delacroiz letters are published in the Correspondance générale de Delacroix by Joubin (1938).
In 1851, Delacroix was in the process of completing ‘Apollo Vanquishing the Serpent Python’ on the ceiling of the Apollo Gallery at the Louvre Palace. The series of 11 paintings planned by Charles Le Brun in the salon on the first floor of the Petite Galerie (around the figure of Apollo, the allegories of the Seasons, and the evocation of the constellations) remained unfinished in 1663, with only four paintings completed. Work did not resume until 1769 when Hugues Taraval delivered the Triumph of Bacchus and three other paintings entrusted to the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture. Le Brun's work continued in the 19th century and it was finally Delacroix in 1851 who completed it by creating the decoration of the central box, thus ending a 188-year project.
The ALS from Joséphine de Forget to Delacroix, one page, 4.75 x 7.25, postmarked August 6, 1839, in part: “Tomorrow, Tuesday, we will go to the French, there will be a lovely show, which your friend will pay the price for. You will join us early, and I hope that we will be able to spend our dinner very close to each other. How happy I was last night, my poor friend! My heart is full of this happiness, which I prefer to all the pleasures of the world.”
De Forget was the daughter of Count Antoine de Lavalette (exiled following a failed plot against Louis XVIII during the Hundred Days) and Emilie de Beauharnais (niece of Empress Joséphine, who was imprisoned following her husband's actions and ended up losing her mind). She married François-Alexandre, Baron de Forget in 1817, from whom she separated in 1830 and who committed suicide in 1836, also killing his youngest son. In 1836, she began an affair with her cousin Eugène Delacroix. First lovers, then lifelong friends, they showed each other a deep and lasting affection through their correspondence.
