1*I ought to have
2answered your letter ever so long ago1
3but working pretty hard every day_/ at
4night I feel so often to weary to
5write. As it rains to day I avail myself
6of the opportunity. Last Sunday I have
7met Macknight and a Danish painter
8and I intend to go to see him at Fonvieille
9next monday.2 I feel sure I shall
10prefer him as an artist to what he
11is as an art critic_/ his vieuws as such
12being so narrow that they make me
13smile.

14I heartily hope for you that you will
15be able to leave Paris for good soon3
16and no doubt leaving Paris will
17do you a world of good in all
18respects. As for me I remain
19enraptured with the scenery here_/
20am working at a series of blooming
21orchards.4 And unvoluntarily
22thought often of you because you
23did the same in Sicily.5 I
24wished you would one day or
25another_/ when I shall send
26over some work to Paris_/ exchange
27a Sicilian study with me – in
28case you should have one to
29spare_–6

30You know I thought and think
31such a deal of those of yours_
32I don’t gainsay that your
33portraits are more serious
34and higher art but I think
35it meritory in you and a
36rare quality that together with
37a perfection as appeared to me
38the Fabian and M^c Knight portraits_/7
39you are at the same time able
40to give a Scherzo_/ the
41adagio con expressione_/ the
42gay note in one word_/ together
43with more manly conceptions
44of a higher order. And I so heartily
45hope that you will continue to
46give us simultanément
47both the grave and elaborate works
48and those aforesaid scherzos.–
49Then let them say if they like
50that you are not always serious
51or that you have done work
52of a lighter sort_– So much the
53'worse for the critics & the better for you_

54I have heard nothing of
55our friend M^r Reid. I felt rather
56anxious on his account because
57I feel sure that he was on a false
58track. My brother has received a letter
59of him but pretty unsatisfactory.8

60I was very much taken in by him during
61the first 6 weeks or 2 months9 but after
62that period he was in pecuniary difficulties
63and in the same acted in a way
64that made on
65me the impression that he had lost his
66wits.

67Which I still think was the case and
68'consequently he’s not responsable
69even if his doings then were
70pretty unfair. He is very nervous
71– as we all are – and can’t help
72being so_– He is prompted to act
73in his crisis of nerves to make money
74– – – whilst painters would
75make pictures.....

76So much to say that I consider
77the dealer stronger in him than
78THE ARTIST though there be a battle
79in his conscience concerning this –
79aof the which battle I do not yet know the result_
80So much – pour votre gouverne –
81as I had the pleasure of introducing
82him to you_/ feel bound to warn
83you with the same sympathy however
84for him because I found him artistic
85in pleading the Monticelli cause_–10
86In the which I took and take my part_
87Witnessing the very scenery which
88inspired Monticelli I maintain
89this artists rights to public though
90too late appreciation_

91Surely Monticelli gives us not_/ neither
92pretends to give us_/ local colour or even local
93truth. But gives us something passionate
94and eternal – the rich coulour and rich sun
95of the glorious South in a true colourists way
96parralel with Delacroix’ conception of the South_11
97Viz_ that the South be represented now by
98contraste simultané of colours12 and
99their derivations and harmonies_/ and
100not by forms or lines in themselves
101as the ancient artists did formerly_/
102by pure form greeks & Michel Ange_/
103or by pure line or delineation Rafael_/
104Mantegna_/ Venetian primitifs_
105 (Botticelli_/ Cimabue_/ Giotto_/ Bellini.)
106Contrariwise the thing undertaken
107by P. Veronese & Titian – Colour_13
108The thing undertaken by Velasquez and
109Goya to be continued and –
110more fully or rather more universally done
111by the more universal
112knowledge we have & possess of the
113colours of the prism and their proprieties_14