Letter from Frances Hodgkins to Rachel Hodgkins
Date
10 May 1906
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Object Detail
Date
10 May 1906
Transcript
Casa Frollo, Venice May 10th
My very dearest Mother
I wonder how you are, if you are feeling your old self again & settled down comfortably in your new room. Mail day is nearly here with news of you. I have spent a very quiet & uneventful fortnight since my last letter to you I have settled down to my jog-trot painting habits & the days slip by & soon we will be moving on in search of fresh fields. The mosquitoes arrive on the 26th June on which day it is said the swallows fly southwards unable to cope with the incoming hordes of mosquitoes. This may or may not be true. I will let you know later. It is none too hot here & we are still wearing flannel blouses. Yesterday an elderly artist was borne off to the hospital suffering from measles & we are all feeling a trifle uneasy lest our turn should come & have dosed ourselves with quinine as a precautionary measure. I have just heard that I am out of the R.A. this year worse luck. Butler & Miss Stoddart are in though so N.Z. is still represented. They say it is a worse than usual bad year & that there is very little good work. Still bad as it is I should like to be there. The Miss Montalbas came to see me one day. They were very kind & encouraging & seemed to like my work. I have had a letter from Dr Fell asking me to be one of 3 to select some pictures for the Wellington Art Gallery. I don’t quite know what to do as I shall not be in England for at least a year I hope. I should very much like to help choose. He mentioned Miss Montalba as an artist whose work it would be well to enquire about. I did not see anything of hers I greatly coveted but I fancy all her best work is in England. Mr Garstin is to be one of the choosers and a Mr Fletcher the other. Rosamond Marshall is with us now & will probably spend 2 or 3 months with me. I feel much happier now she is here; she is such a dear devoted kind little friend & she makes me feel much less alone in the world. There is nobody at all interesting staying at this house unless Miss Land who is Andrew Lang’s sister turns out to be more pleasant than she looks. Sometimes at night we go out on to the lagoons in our sandola which is very restful & soothing after the day spent vainly trying to represent a little of the beauty of Venice. There are quite a lot of artists here but mostly of such a very poor order that it distresses one to see their work. Rosamond is very keen about our going over to Croatia on the other side of the Adriatic. It is very cheap there & food is good & life very picturesque & unhackneyed & I believe it will be cooler. I feel more inclined to stay on in Italy & wait for the autumn vintage which I am sure must be beautiful & well worth painting. Let me know Mother dear when next you write what month the Chch exhibition opens. I must have some work ready for it. I wonder if Jean & Willie came up. How nice Maitie’s husband getting a N.Z. appointment. This must go now for the mail. I am so frightened of losing it & the Italian mails are uncertain affairs. Much love to you & sis & the chicks take best of care of yourself & don’t work too hard. I hope Sis has a nice kind servant to help her with wee George Alexander. Does he keep well & strong? Your very loving Frances.
My very dearest Mother
I wonder how you are, if you are feeling your old self again & settled down comfortably in your new room. Mail day is nearly here with news of you. I have spent a very quiet & uneventful fortnight since my last letter to you I have settled down to my jog-trot painting habits & the days slip by & soon we will be moving on in search of fresh fields. The mosquitoes arrive on the 26th June on which day it is said the swallows fly southwards unable to cope with the incoming hordes of mosquitoes. This may or may not be true. I will let you know later. It is none too hot here & we are still wearing flannel blouses. Yesterday an elderly artist was borne off to the hospital suffering from measles & we are all feeling a trifle uneasy lest our turn should come & have dosed ourselves with quinine as a precautionary measure. I have just heard that I am out of the R.A. this year worse luck. Butler & Miss Stoddart are in though so N.Z. is still represented. They say it is a worse than usual bad year & that there is very little good work. Still bad as it is I should like to be there. The Miss Montalbas came to see me one day. They were very kind & encouraging & seemed to like my work. I have had a letter from Dr Fell asking me to be one of 3 to select some pictures for the Wellington Art Gallery. I don’t quite know what to do as I shall not be in England for at least a year I hope. I should very much like to help choose. He mentioned Miss Montalba as an artist whose work it would be well to enquire about. I did not see anything of hers I greatly coveted but I fancy all her best work is in England. Mr Garstin is to be one of the choosers and a Mr Fletcher the other. Rosamond Marshall is with us now & will probably spend 2 or 3 months with me. I feel much happier now she is here; she is such a dear devoted kind little friend & she makes me feel much less alone in the world. There is nobody at all interesting staying at this house unless Miss Land who is Andrew Lang’s sister turns out to be more pleasant than she looks. Sometimes at night we go out on to the lagoons in our sandola which is very restful & soothing after the day spent vainly trying to represent a little of the beauty of Venice. There are quite a lot of artists here but mostly of such a very poor order that it distresses one to see their work. Rosamond is very keen about our going over to Croatia on the other side of the Adriatic. It is very cheap there & food is good & life very picturesque & unhackneyed & I believe it will be cooler. I feel more inclined to stay on in Italy & wait for the autumn vintage which I am sure must be beautiful & well worth painting. Let me know Mother dear when next you write what month the Chch exhibition opens. I must have some work ready for it. I wonder if Jean & Willie came up. How nice Maitie’s husband getting a N.Z. appointment. This must go now for the mail. I am so frightened of losing it & the Italian mails are uncertain affairs. Much love to you & sis & the chicks take best of care of yourself & don’t work too hard. I hope Sis has a nice kind servant to help her with wee George Alexander. Does he keep well & strong? Your very loving Frances.
Pages
3 pages
Sender's address
Casa Frollo, Venice
Institutional No.
MS-Papers-0085-16
Credit Line
Letters
from
Frances
Hodgkins.
Field,
Isabel
Jane,
1867-1950
:
Correspondence
of
Frances
Hodgkins
and
family
/
collected
by
Isabel
Field.
Ref:
MS-Papers-0085-16. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand.
https://natlib.govt.nz/records/22885206
MS-Papers-0085-16. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand.
https://natlib.govt.nz/records/22885206