Letter from Friedrich Viktor Spitzer to Marie Schiele, 4th Nov. 1918

Translation of the Transcription:

Vienna 4/11 18
XIX Steinfeldg[asse] 11.

Dear Mrs. Schiele!
Please allow me to express my heartfelt condolences to you and your family for the loss of your son. It is only today that I have received the death notice you have sent me and since I was not aware of the time of the funeral I was unable to attend. I have greatly treasured your son as a man and as an artist and his passing saddens me. He was a very promising artist and it is a great loss to all of us that he was torn from the world of art in the midst of his creativity so prematurely. I hope you will forgive me for approaching you with a request I am making purely out of loyalty and reverence for the deceased. When your son visited me a few months ago he saw the heliogravures of my photographs of Klimt and suggested that I give him 2 copies, for which he would in turn give me one of his drawings by which to remember our artistic relations. He wrote to me when I sent him the requested copies to say that he had gotten them and would personally bring me a drawing once he had restored order after his move. I have since been in Russia, from where I returned only in October. Will you be so kind as to have such a work sent to me as a treasured memento? A sketch of his wife or of himself would be especially precious to me. I am sure you know that I have executed a good portrait of him. In case it is wanted by you or for a publication I will be glad to oblige.
Yours respectfully,
Dr. F. V. [Friedrich Viktor] Spitzer

[Envelope:]
Mrs. Marie Schiele
Vienna [crossed out: XIII]
Hietzinger Hauptstr. 114]
[written by a foreign hand:]
VI
Gfrornergasse 7

From: Dr. F. V. Spitzer Vienna XIX Steinfeldg. 4.