Maurice DENIS (1870 - 1943) The Two Friends, 1892 Watercolor. Monogrammed and dated lower right. 21.5 x 13.3 cm Provenance : This drawing comes from the guestbook of the Pavillon Henri IV hotel-restaurant in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, run by Georges Barbotte after his father, sold under number 315 in our auction house's March 11, 2026 sale. We would like to thank Madame Clémence Gaboriau for the information she provided. Our drawing, although not directly preparatory, can be compared to the composition for the lithographed frontispiece of Paul Verlaine's Sagesse. The same motif of two women in white dresses can be found in the oil on canvas Avril, also dated 1892, now in the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo (KM 100.972). A preparatory drawing for this oil shows these figures in the same pose, wearing red striped dresses.