DLA019-0059  Transcription

5th June, 1930.

Dear Mr. Manson,

I wish to apologise for my very much delayed reply to your letter of May 13th.^[1] I have been in Paris, and most of my correspondence has been kept back as I made various journeys, and letters were not forwarded to me.

You kindly suggest to me in your letter that a friend of yours is in possession of real ultramarine in powder form. I certainly would like to buy it if only I knew how and where the ultramarine powder could be prepared for use. As you know, alas, we no longer prepare our own colours as in past days and it would be very difficult to hand it over to any colour manufacturer for this purpose. Such a thing could only be done privately.

It would certainly be a great advantage to be able to use some real ultramarine, for we never know nowadays how far our colours are synthetic! You may know someone in whom one could trust to prepare it in case I thought of buying it.

Many thanks again for your kind attention in writing to me about the matter.

Hoping to have the pleasure of hearing from  you, | Yours sincerely,

J. B. Manson, Esq.,

National Gallery,

Millbank, S.W.1.

Editorial Note:

James Bolivar Manson (1879-1945), British painter, writer and curator

SMDL

30/05/2018