Brief aan Philip Zilcken 1856 - 1932

This is a letter written by Cecilia de Madrazo, to Philip Zilcken. The act of writing was, of course, deeply rooted in social practice. We can note that this letter, written in French, suggests the cultural milieu in which both writer and recipient operated – a world in which fluency in the language of diplomacy and high culture was common, especially among artists and intellectuals. But how might one study this artifact to expand our understanding of 19th-century artistic networks? Well, knowing something of the institutional history of art in Europe helps, but so, too, would access to the recipients' papers and the social history of artistic patronage. Ultimately, the meaning we ascribe to such an artifact is always contingent on the social and institutional contexts in which it was produced and received.