DMITRI STELLETSKY (1875-1947) Composition with Easter egg and handwritten letter of the artist

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'