DMITRI STELLETSKY (1875-1947) Composition with Easter egg handwritten letter rom Dmitry Steletsky to Sofya Leonidovna. La Napoule, 31 March 1942 (on the reverse)

Long dedication in Cyrillic to Sofia Leonidovna (on the reverse) pencil, gouache, and watercolour on paper 41 x 24.4 cm Provenance: Baroness Sophia Leonidovna Bark, Von Ber (1867-1957), wife of the last Minister of Finance of the Russian Empire Pyotr Lvovich Bark (1869-1937) Handwritten letter in Cyrillic from Dimitri Stelletsky to Sofia Leonidovna Bark on 31 March 1942 from La Napoule, during the occupation of the South of FRANCE: 'Khristos Voskrese' ['Christ is Risen. Dear Sophia Leonidovna, I send you and to your dear family my best wishes for the Great feast of Easter... Here comes Easter once again, and this time in my life - without a red egg, without a slice of kulich and a crumb of the quark Easter cake! But tomorrow I am going to Cannes, where I will stay on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday - so I will be present in all Easter services in the church (...) D. Stelletsky'