Letter from Claude Monet, Giverny, to Paul Rosenberg, 1917 May 18 : autograph manuscript signed.

Responding to his letter and thanking him for his kindness. In relation to the painting by Manet that Rosenberg contacted him about, he can tell him that he knew [Hippolyte] Lejosne well and went to his house several times with his friend Bazille. He met Baudelaire there, who had a close friendship with Manet. He has no memory of seeing the painting in question there and has never heard of it. He thinks it unlikely that Lejosne would have had a questionable painting. This is all Monet can tell him. Unfortunately, Manet's friends, who could authenticate the painting, have died, among them [Frederic] Bazille, Henri Fantin[-Latour], and Madame Marizot [Morisot]. He hasn't seen Lejosne for a long time and thought that he had died as well. He was a very pleasant man with excellent taste. The small still life by Monet that he had was perhaps the first painting that Monet sold.