Brief aan August Allebé Possibly 1911 - 1914

This letter was written by J.H. Wellbeloved in Johannesburg in 1911, and it just feels so human. The texture of the paper, the typewriter font, the ink... you can almost feel Wellbeloved sitting there, penning this note. He's writing to August Allebé, a director at the Ryks Museum in Amsterdam, hoping to get a painting identified. There’s something so beautiful and hopeful about the letter. It speaks to the value we place on art and connection. It's hard to imagine what the original painting looks like. The letter mentions it was shown at an Exhibition in Fort Elizabeth, Cape Colony in 1884. It's tantalizing to think of all the hands it must have passed through. Maybe Wellbeloved really loved this piece. Or maybe he was hoping it was an undiscovered masterpiece. The painting must have been quite special to prompt this effort. It's a reminder of the enduring mystery and power that art holds over us. It is like a message in a bottle tossed into the ocean of time, hoping to reach a shore.