Gérôme, Jean Léon, 1824-1904

Scope and Contents: "May 17 '74. My dear Mr Lewis, your letter was sent on to me at Paris, and greatly delighted I was to know you were pleased with the appreciation of your wonderful picture. You do not think so highly of your own work as your admirers do, or you could not be surprised at any sum being offered for one of your chief pictures. I am sure Mr Graham's offer was bona fide, as he asked me to find out if the possessor would take the sum mentioned, and as he was willing to give it. £10,000 is a...

Abstract: The collection comprises 15 letters from Thomas Woolner to John Frederick Lewis, written between 1874 and 1876. It also includes 5 letters from Woolner to Lewis’s wife, Marian Harper, one letter from Lewis to dealer William Vokins, and several letters from Woolner’s wife and daughter. The letters primarily concern Lewis’s declining health—he died several months after the last letter in the collection—Woolner’s admiration for Lewis’s painting, updates on the politics of the Royal Academy and...