Documents associated with: Coert, J.
Record 2 of 6
System Number: 07939
Date: 2 August [1902][1]
Author: JW
Place: The Hague
Recipient: Théodore Duret[2]
Place: [Paris]
Repository: Library of Congress
Call Number: Manuscript Division, Pennell-Whistler Collection, PWC 1/30/3
Document Type: ALS[3]
Mon cher Duret -
Je regrette excessivement que vous ayez encore tant soufert de votre goutte! Pourquoi n'allez vous donc pas à Homburg - ou à Aix, où se trouve à ce moment notre ami Kennedy[4] - qui m'en donne les meilleurs [sic] nouvelles -
Quant à moi vous savez bien que les journaux me poursuivent! Autrement [p. 2] il n'y a pas à avoir inquietude -
Du reste le Medecin[5], le plus distingué, naturellement, me soigne encore -
Aussi suis je tres heureux en ce que mes deux belles soeurs[6] sont avec moi en ma convalescence. -
À qui diable avez vous prit [sic] des renseignements! et pourquoi ne m'avez vous pas écrit directement? -
La Hollande est charmante - pourquoi n'y pensez vous pas? -
A bientot, cher ami, avec mille remerciments [sic]
Toujours à vous,
Whistler
La Haye -
le 2 Aout - '1902'
This document is protected by copyright.
Translation:
My dear Duret -
I regret enormously that you should have been suffering so much from gout! So why do you not go to Homburg - or to Aix, where our friend Kennedy is at present - who gives me the best accounts of it -
As for me you know that the newspapers have been pursuing me! Apart from that, [p. 2] there is no cause for concern -
In any case the doctor, the most distinguished, naturally, is still looking after me -
Also I am very fortunate that my sisters-in-law are with me during my convalescence. -
Who on earth did you get information from! and why did you not write to me direct? -
Holland is charming - why don't you think of it? -
A thousand thanks, dear friend, and write again soon
Yours always,
Whistler
Notes:
1. 2 August [1902]
'1902' was added to the date at the foot of the letter, probably by Duret.
2. Théodore Duret
Théodore Duret (1838-1927), art critic and collector [more].
3. ALS
The paper has a mourning border. This letter was published in MacDonald, Margaret F., and Joy Newton, 'Correspondence Duret-Whistler,' Gazette des Beaux-Arts, November 1987, pp. 150-64, at p. 161.
4. Kennedy
Edward Guthrie Kennedy (1849-1932), dealer with H. Wunderlich and Co., New York [more]. See Kennedy's vivid account of his stay at Aix, on 25 July 1902, #07337.
5. le Medicin
Dr J. Coert, physician [more]. He was apparently physician to the Dutch Royal Court (Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Life of James McNeill Whistler, 2 vols, London and Philadelphia, 1908, vol. 2, p. 281).
6. mes deux belles soeurs
Ethel Whibley (1861-1920), née Philip, JW's sister-in-law [more]; and Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958), JW's sister-in-law [more].