Abstract
After Charles L'Eplattenier and Auguste Perret, Neuchâtel writer William Ritter was Charles-Édouard Jeanneret's third mentor. A writer, translator, aesthete and excellent connoisseur of Central Europe and the Balkans, Ritter maintained a regular correspondence with the young architect for ten years, providing him with stylistic advice. Sharing with him the results of his own explorations, he encouraged him to undertake his " voyage d'Orient " in 1911, and to write and paint about it. Ritter made him sensitive to vernacular architecture and folk art, and led him to observe landscapes and draw them meticulously, thus making a decisive contribution to shaping the young architect's outlook and thinking.
