ALS in French, signed “Henri,” one page, 4.5 x 7, “Easter” of an unspecified year [but 1878]. Letter to “My dear uncle,” in full (translated): “Everything goes better and better. My appetite has decidedly come back: it is now even violent. The physician still forbids me to rise, as a form of excessive precaution. But he will probably allow me to leave bed tomorrow. Mother is very jolly, she reads and talks with pleasure. Please kiss everybody for me.” In fine condition.
Shortly before penning this letter to his “dear uncle,” 13-year-old Henri suffered a break to his right femur that began his lifelong, nearly crippling, problems with his legs. Due to the genetic disease that he unknowingly carried, the break was the first of two that would never heal correctly, leaving him with the deformity that pushed him into the world of social misfits, the focus of his art and fame. Unaware of the totality of his situation, and despite the fact that he is confined to his bed while his cousins play outside, he reports that “everything goes better and better” under the watchful eye of his mother. Three years later, when he decided to become a fulltime artist after failing his baccalaureat in Paris, it was his “dear uncle” who helped convince Lautrec’s mother that it was the right path. A charmingly optimistic letter from the budding artist on the bumpy road to recovery. Pre-certified John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and RR Auction COA.
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