Bidspirit auction | VUILLARD EDOUARD: (1868-1940)

VUILLARD EDOUARD: (1868-1940) - VUILLARD EDOUARD: (1868-1940) French painter. A.L.S., E Vuillard , one page, 8vo (folding letter card), n.p., 6th November 1938, to Princess Schakhoukoy, in French. Vuillard announces ´Il m´en coûte beaucoup d´être obligé de renoncer à ce projet d´illustrer le beau roman de Maurice que vous aviez eu l´amabilité de me proposer´ (Translation: ´It pains me greatly to have to turn down this project to illustrate Maurice’s fine novel, which you were kind enough to propose to me´ ) and continues to explain ´Mais vraiment, je ne suis pas en état d´entreprendre un travail de ce genre, si flatteur que soit le crédit que vous me faites à pareil sujet, je ne saurais après y avoir bien reflechi, le traiter de façon à justifier honorablement mon intervention´ (Translation: ´But truly, I am not in a position to undertake work of this kind; however flattering your confidence in me on this matter may be, having given it careful thought, I do not believe I could handle it in a way that would do justice to my involvement´ ). Hand addressed by Vuillard to the verso (two small traces of former mounting, slightly affecting part of the text). About VG Princess Zinaida Shakhovskaya (1906-2001) Russian émigré writer, journalist and poet. In 1938 she published her critically acclaimed book, Vie d’Alexandre Pouchkine ( The Life of Alexander Pushkin ) in Paris. The ´Maurice´ whose book the Princess was hoping Vuillard would illustrate may have been the Belgian playwright, poet, and essayist Maurice Maeterlinck, who had been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1911.