The Artist's Wife (Perie, 1849?1887) Reading, 1883, Pastel and charcoal on wove paper, laid down on blue wove paper, laid down on stretched canvas, 19 7/8 x 24 1/8 in. (50. 5 x 61. 3 cm), Drawings, Albert Bartholome (French, Thiverval 1848?1928 Paris), This composition, with its inventive cropping and velvety passages of pastel, reflects the influence of Degas, who befriended Bartholome in the early 1880s. The sitter is the artist?s wife, Perie, known to be a 'beautiful woman of delicate health, cultivated, and of supreme distinction