JACQUELINE KENNEDY (1929-1994) Autograph letter signed
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[Ravello] 26 August [1962], to André MALRAUX, Minister of Cultural Affairs
4 pages small in-4, on blue letterhead stationery "L'Episcopio - Ravello - Prov di Salerno".
Small rust mark of a letter-clip, upper right corner p.4.
In French.
About Malraux's plan to lend the painting "Whistler's Mother" by the American painter Whistler to the Atlanta Museum...
"I ask your indulgence for this not business-like letter [...] How generous France is. The treasures of Versailles will also visit us this fall..."
"Whistler's Mother", is a painting by American painter James Abbott McNeill Whistler, painted in 1871 in London and depicting the artist's mother, Anna McNeill Whistler. Following a theme of naming his paintings as musical compositions, Whistler dubbed this portrait "Arrangement in Grey and Black - Portrait of the Painter's Mother". Eventually it became known as "Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1". Whistler's mother is a nickname popularised by the public.
Purchased by the French state in 1891, it is kept in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris.
This portrait is now considered one of the most famous works by an American artist to be preserved outside the United States. It has been described as both an American icon and a Victorian Mona Lisa.