HAUTES-ALPES. 270 letters, most of them addressed to Madame - Lot 154

Lot 154
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Estimation :
400 - 500 EUR
HAUTES-ALPES. 270 letters, most of them addressed to Madame - Lot 154
HAUTES-ALPES. 270 letters, most of them addressed to Madame Charbonnel, boarding school mistress at the Couvent du Sacré Coeur de Marie in Gap (1836), then headmistress of a boarding school for young ladies in Gap, and headmistress of the École Normale in Gap (1854) then in Aix. Circa 1830-1860. Preserved envelopes. Correspondence relating to her family (mainly) and her work as headmistress of a boarding school for young ladies in Gap. She was married to the painter Jean-Baptiste Guignet (some fifteen letters are addressed to him). A number of letters are addressed to other family members and relatives (including a long letter from a school inspector to Abbé Jullien, canon archpriest of Gap). Also included are interesting letters from a painter named Charbonnel, a friend of BERLIOZ (the Charbonnel family had a branch in Isère, and some letters are addressed to the Baboin family in La Côte-Saint-André and the De Nolly family in Viriville; Jean-Baptiste Guignet ended his life in Viriville). "...] But what would be for me the pinnacle of my wishes and real good fortune, would be the commission of a church painting of a somewhat large size. Gap is a town of devotion, and church ornamentation must occupy the clergy and the holy souls of the country, and it seems to me that it would not be impossible to procure some work of this kind, especially in view of the modest price, for I could do for five or six hundred francs, the same painting that an ordinary artist would ask for twelve or fifteen hundred francs and perhaps more [...]. I was very pleasantly surprised, some time ago, by the unexpected visit of Berlioz and his mother, their plan being to pass through Gap on their way back to Aix, I think you will have seen them and heard from them. Berlioz will no doubt also have told you of his kindness in placing with me in Lyon the same two paintings I am sending you [...]".
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