MONET (Claude). Autograph letter signed to Blanche... Lot 26

MONET (Claude). Autograph letter signed to Blanche Hoschedé. London, March 16, 1900. 4 pp. 1/2 in-12, printed letterhead from the Savoy Hotel in London. BEAUTIFUL LETTER EVOKING HIS WORK ON THE LONDON PARLIAMENT. Claude Monet first visited this city in the winter of 1870-1871, and, cultivating the friendship of painters James McNeill Whistler and John Singer Sargent, returned on several occasions. Fascinated by the light and colors of the London fog, he painted its effects in numerous pictures, notably during a stay from February to April 1900, in a series devoted to the Westminster Parliament. "It's to you, my dear little Blanche, that I'm writing today, first because I owe you a letter, and then so that your mother won't be without news... I'M CONTINUING TO PICTURE CLOSELY, I'VE STARTED MY FIFTIETH PAINTING A LITTLE while ago, and that's to tell you that I don't often go unpainted, that it's enough to drive you crazy with all the changes... I'm doing absolutely fine, ... I sleep like a clog, ... I find London more beautiful to paint every day... " Blanche Hoschedé was doubly Claude Monet's daughter-in-law, as the child of his second wife, Alice Raingo, and as the wife of Jean Monet, the painter's son. She was also Claude Monet's model, and in a way his pupil, frequently painting with him on the spot.