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ALS in French, signed “C. Pissarro,” three pages on two adjoining sheets, 4.5 x 7, no date. Handwritten letter to his wife, Julie Vellay, sketching a diagram of his infected eye in the margin of the first page. In part (translated): "I received this morning your short letter and the one you received in Grasse for me. I thank you for having thought of writing a few lines, it gives me great pleasure and I am happy to know that you are more or less well. You ask where I put Leon Simon's prescriptions, in the usual place or in your armoire or in the glass cabinet in my studio. The prescriptions are with some medicines in a white wooden box. Sometimes when she cleans up the maid mistakenly thinks the boxes are children's toys and then she puts them away with Paul's things under the washbasin…If you cannot find them you will either have to write to Leon Simon or go see him.
At the moment my eye still has a small open duct (letter A), some pus still coming out, very little. Parenteau says that it has to close off naturally, that there is no cavity left, it's very difficult to know. He fears that the bone (B) at the basis of the nose may have suffered some alteration, it takes a long time to recover from oozing of the bone, but it eventually happens, I only suffer from having a device under the eye that presses on the small duct. For example, when the temperature changed, I came down with a sore throat. I am really out of sorts, the slightest cold has an effect on me, I long to work, to see you, I miss hearing you, being with my wife. I must be patient, I am taking care of my throat with a strange mixture that I take with the medicine for my eye.
Lucien and Esther went to see Aunt Estruc. I asked Esther, who leaves tomorrow, to send my box of colors; I want to do some sketches from my window, some very small ones. I will give her five hundred francs for you; should you come one of these days I'll give you another one hundred.
Lucien told you that Monet came by to see me. Just now I saw Lecomte. Georges came by the day before yesterday. He is much better but not totally recovered yet.
Anyway that's where things stand with this stupid infirmity that spoilt my spring; and we thought we would be able to go to La Roche Guyon? Ha!
My poor Julie, see how one should never make any plans and just take things as they come, so that's what I'll try my best to do, especially when you come and my throat no longer hurts. I hope to be totally well in two to three days." In fine condition, with short splits to the ends of the hinge.
As he aged, Pissarro suffered from a recurring eye infection that prevented him from working outdoors except in warm weather. As a result, he began painting outdoor scenes while sitting by the window of hotel rooms, often choosing rooms on upper levels to get a broader view of the landscape. He moved around northern France and painted from hotels in Rouen, Paris, Le Havre, and Dieppe, and he would do the same during his visits to London.
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