Pissarro

When Pissarro returned to to his home in Louveciennes in the summer of 1871, the Germans, having defeated the French and briefly occupies Paris, also looted his studio, leaving only about 40 out of 1500 canvases, which the artist had stored there. -Herman J Wechsler

-the result of a lifetime of work.  Very little of his production had ever been sold.  He was told how the invaders had used his canvases as shoes to protect their feet from the mud. -H.W.

The next years were consumed with hard work, were rich in Production, and some of the century's most poetic landscapes were being turned out.  -H.W.

Not enough of these were selling, however, to keep the maker from becoming more and more bitter and all but ready to admit complete defeat.  -H.W.

During his lifetime Pissaro received few honors.  In his last letter to his son Lucien, he writes:

I sold two pictures to the Museum and two to collectors, but I am hardly besieged by demands.  I see that we are far from being understood -quite far -even by our friends. H.W.