Description: French painter Benjamin Constant (1845-1902) penned and signed this energetic letter about art in 1900. Constant writes (in French) that, “One must never compare anything in life, not even paintings!! “[?] is what it is! The Queen is what she is!”

 

Constant was best known for his Orientalist subjects and portraits. He was a student of Alexandre Cabanel at the École des Beaux-Arts in Toulouse. A trip to Morocco would greatly inspire him and his future work.

 

Written on one page of a sheet of mourning stationery with bold black margins that measures: 6 5/8” x 4 7/8”. Includes original transmittal envelope which is addressed to a Mrs. Mannheimer[?] of St. Paul, Minnesota and has circular Paris cancellations. Item #A01138

 

Condition: Letter has been tipped to a slightly larger album page, has a few spots where the ink bled, otherwise in very good condition.