ZIEM (Félix). - Lot 231

ZIEM (Félix). Born in Beaune. 1821-1911. Painter of the Barbizon School, appreciated for his landscapes of Venice and Constantinople. Precursor of Impressionism. L.A.S. "Ziem" to "Mon cher Monsieur" [the journalist Aurélien Scholl]. S.l.n.d. 1 p. in-8. The painter tells him an anecdote: ...Here is the counterpart to your story of the husband who wants to cut the rope holding the captive balloon in which his wife is trapped. A saltimbanque aeronaut, as dry as an eel's skin, was unpacking in Copenhagen, where I arrived one fine summer Sunday. His very fat Spanish wife was collecting entrance fees. The price settled, the aeronaut and I climbed into the gondola and ascended (sic) into space... As a young man, I was moved and admiring, offering a splendid eulogy of high profession. But he, his eyes fixed on the ground, wept as he told me: "See what my condition obliges me to do. I'm leaving my wife, and she's taking advantage of my ascensions (sic) to indulge in many things with the officers...