Gustave Moreau (1826–1898), autograph letter signed, 28 July 1895, no place, to a gentleman; on mourning paper.

1 page, Octavo (164 x 109 mm).
A courteous letter of refusal in which Gustave Moreau, then a professor at the École des Beaux-Arts since the death of Jules-Élie Delaunay in 1891, explains that it is impossible for him to answer the question put to him.

"Monsieur,
Dirigeant un des trois ateliers de l'École des Beaux-Arts, il m'est absolument impossible de répondre à la question que vous m'adressez.
Croyez, monsieur, à mes regrets et veuillez recevoir l'expression de mes sentiments distingués.
Gustave Moreau
28 juillet 95"

In 1895 — three years before his death — the Symbolist master exerted a major influence on the new generation of artists. He had been appointed professor at the École des Beaux-Arts in 1892, after Jules-Élie Delaunay named him his successor on his deathbed. It was in these studios that some of the great artists of the following century would train, among them Henri Matisse, Georges Rouault, Albert Marquet and Henri Manguin.