FLAUBERT Gustave (1821-1880) L.A.S., addressed... - Lot 39 - Aguttes

FLAUBERT Gustave (1821-1880) L.A.S., addressed to Eugène FROMENTIN. 2 pages and a half in-8 (folds). Letter about his last book devoted to Dutch and Flemish painting. Les Maîtres d'autrefois, Belgique, Hollande, had just been published by Plon; it was immediately recognized as one of the great books of art criticism. Writer and painter himself, friend of Delacroix, Eugène Fromentin (1820-1876) analyzed in particular the works of Rubens and Rembrandt. He had sent a copy to Flaubert. In his reply, the latter praised the descriptive qualities of the book - "a marvel of precision and depth", evoking the subjects that were close to his heart, such as the insignificance of the subject, which was to be the credo of the naturalist movement, against "the spice and utilitarian caboches of our contemporaries". Fromentin died suddenly a few months later. Ernest CHAUSSON (1 piece).