939 - MANET, Édouard (1832–1883). Signed, handwritten letter illustrated in ink, addressed to his muse Méry Laurent. Bellevue, undated. “6 a.m. Wednesday,” [circa 1880]. Approximately 18.1 x 11.2 cm.

MANET, Édouard (1832–1883). Signed, handwritten letter illustrated in ink, addressed to his muse Méry Laurent. Bellevue, undated. “6 a.m. Wednesday,” [circa 1880]. Approximately 18.1 x 11.2 cm. A FANTASTIC ILLUSTRATED LETTER FROM MANET, PLAYFUL AND PROVOCATIVE, TO HIS MUSE “Your letter, which arrived yesterday evening, sent [?] Dante, my dear Méry, racing through my mind. The most delightful and varied dreams, for which you graciously served as the subject. When I woke up—just in time—I regretted that reality was so far away. Still, these dreams are better than many others. I received a letter from the finest of restaurateurs. He informs me of your visit to Bellevue. If it’s for lunch, there’s the Hôtel de la Tête Noire—Lathuille’s place— [referring to Père Lathuille’s restaurant at Les Bati-gnolles, which he frequented and had painted in 1879]—or a little dive at the top of the Route des Gardes across from the avenue. I’d really like the B. affair to work out differently; otherwise, I’d send *Le Café* to Rouen, where it’s been requested for an exhibition. The weather’s nice now, so I’m going to get to work, but I’m short on models—and now, take care. EM.” A Playful Self-Portrait Following the letter, we find an amusing ink drawing by Manet, whose tone matches that of the letter. The painter is hiding: only his beard, mustache, and hand are visible. He is not holding a paintbrush but a garden hose nozzle. Méry Laurent is nude, leaning against a balustrade with her back to him. Manet invites his muse, partially hidden by the stream of water, to turn around. This ambiguous drawing attests to the intimacy of the relationship between the master and his muse. A Ciphered Text Manet wrote this letter in the summer of 1880, during his stay at Bellevue, where he was being treated for the aftereffects of syphilis. During this forced retreat, Manet corresponded frequently with his friends, whom he invited to visit him. His muse, Méry Laurent, was one of his greatest sources of support and his closest correspondent during this difficult period, which would ultimately lead to his death. Manet mentions their mutual acquaintances and the places they frequented. Thus, “the finest of restaurateurs” likely refers to Louis Gauthier-Lathuille, the son of the restaurateur in Batignolles who had posed for the painter a few years earlier. Father Lathuille and his establishment are also mentioned a little further down in the letter, when the topic of restaurant prices in Meudon comes up. Finally, “the deal” that Manet mentions refers to his painting titled *Au Café* or *Le Café-Concert*, now in the collection of the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore. “The deal” went through: the painting was indeed sold in 1881 to the art dealer Boussaton, referred to here by the letter B. Méry Laurent, Muse of the Parnasse and the Great Painters: An Extraordinary Life Our letter is addressed to Méry Laurent, who was Manet’s muse and his closest friend during the last three years of his life. Méry Laurent, born Anne Rose Suzanne Louviot (1849–1900), led an absolutely extraordinary life: the daughter of a laundress, with an unknown father, she was sold as a teenager to a man in exchange for an annuity, which allowed her to move to Paris, where she worked as a prostitute. After becoming the mistress of a wealthy American, her social connections and remarkable personality placed her at the center of the Parisian avant-garde, surrounded by the writers and artists she entertained and loved, as she pleased. She was the muse of Mallarmé, Blanche and Gervex, and Édouard Manet, who painted her obsessively: *The Allegory of Autumn*, held at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Nancy; *Méry Laurent Wearing a Small Toque*, at the Clark Art Institute; *Portrait of Méry Laurent in a Black Hat*, held at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Dijon; *Méry Laurent with a Pug*, at the Pushkin Museum in Moscow; *Woman in a Tub*, at the Musée d’Orsay; *At the Milliner’s*, at the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco; and *Méry Laurent in a Flowered Hat*, at the Hiroshima Museum of Art, etc. A LETTER VERY LIKELY UNPUBLISHED