Is a new portrait of Molière about to be uncovered? For the past few days, speculation has been going well, and the hunt is on. The cause of this emulation: an unpublished letter from Charles Dickens, dated August 25, 1848, in which the writer mentions the existence of an unknown painting by the playwright, reports The Sunday Times, relayed by Courrier International.
In this letter, which will be auctioned on May 10 in New York, the American writer evokes, with his friend, François Regnier, that one of his painter friends is working on the realization of a painting representing the death of Molière. . “My dear, no one else understands the genius of Molière better than you,” he wrote, before asking for more information on the French playwright, to help his painter friend to carry out his work.
This unpublished letter would have triggered a real “hunt” for the painting, reports the Sunday Times. Some experts have already identified the author of the work, from the writer’s entourage. “Although Dickens does not name the artist, it is probably one of his friends Charles Robert Leslie or William Powell Frith, two Victorian narrative painters who depicted other aspects of the work” reports the daily British.
For now, there is “no trace of a painting of the playwright’s death” in the archives of the Royal Academy exhibitions in 1849 and 1850, notes Dr Leon Litvack, researcher at Queen’s University of Belfast. For this specialist in the work of Dickens, the painting, if found, could be worth hundreds of thousands of pounds because of its link with the British writer.
The painting has not yet been found. For the researcher, it is more than likely that it belongs to an individual who would not be aware of its origin. “Paintings get lost over time. But the letter is specific enough about what the anonymous artist is asking for the painting to have been done,” he finally explains.
