Pablo Picasso (Spanish 1881-1973)- ''Pour Dorothee''- pencil, pastel and gouache on paper, 1961, signed 'Picasso' at center, inscribed 'Pour' at upper left and dated '6.2.61' at lower edge. 13 9/16 x 10 1/16'' (34.5 x 25.5 cm) Provenance: Private collection, Cleveland, Ohio; Bonhams auction, February 2012; Private Collection acquired directly from the artist. This work is accompanied by a photo certificate from Mosieur Claude Ruiz-Picasso, dated 'le 4.04.2011'. The authenticity of this work has been confirmed by Madame Maya Widmaier-Picasso. Verso with inscription by Jacqueline Roque, whom Picasso had been with for eight years by 1961, which reads '… lire les journaux on devient savant...on sait par exemple qu'aujourd'hui c'est la St Doroth‚e / Alors. Bonne fˆte / Jacqueline / 6.II.61'. ('By reading the newspapers we become wise... we know that for example, today is St. Dorothy's day / So, Happy St. Dorothy's day / Jacqueline / 6.II.61'). Presumably Picasso executed this sketch of a bouquet with three flowers in loose yet characteristically confident manner, in response to this note from Jacqueline. The flowers sketched refer to the legend of St. Dorothy: On her way to execution, due to her refusal of renouncing Christian faith, the young girl was mockingly requested by a doubting lawyer, Theophilus, to send him fruit from the heaven. St. Dorothy received a basket of three apples and three roses from an angel when she kneeled for prayer, which she gifted to the unbelieving lawyer. The young lawyer then converted to Christianity. St. Dorothy is known as the patron saint of florists and brides, and February 6th is St. Dorothy's day that Jacqueline wrote the note and Picasso responded by this sketch. The following month, they married in Vallauris.