"j'ose à peine vous inviter à venir voir mon nouveau tableau "les Conscrits"

Autograph letter from the painter Pascal Dagnan-Bouveret, regarding one of his most famous paintings depicting future soldiers of the Great War, entitled "Les Conscrits", now held in the collections of the Assemblée nationale in Paris. 2 pages on a folded sheet.
Trained in the studios of Alexandre Cabanel and Jean-Léon Gérôme, Dagnan-Bouveret received the second prize of Rome. Of naturalist inspiration, he devoted himself to religious painting and had a prolific career as a portraitist at the end of his life. He received prestigious commissions from the Countess of Béarn and the New York Frick family.
Known for his Breton subjects in realistic style, Dagnan-Bouveret painted during 1890 young conscripts drawn by lot to perform their military service. The youngest is depicted draped in the tricolor flag which he brandishes. "If the painter Dagnan-Bouveret created realistic portraits of these conscripts, it is almost certain that these men experienced fire during the First World War" (cf. expositions.bnf)
"[...] J'ose à peine vous inviter à venir voir mon nouveau tableau "les Conscrits", et pourtant vous avez toujours pris tant d'intérêt à mes efforts que je me ferais des reproches de ne pas vous avoir prévenu. [...]" ["[...] I hardly dare invite you to come see my new painting 'the Conscripts', and yet you have always taken such interest in my efforts that I would reproach myself for not having warned you. [...]"]