CALVADOS. Draft letter from an unidentified sculptor and med - Lot 174

Lot 174
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Estimation :
300 - 400 EUR
CALVADOS. Draft letter from an unidentified sculptor and med - Lot 174
CALVADOS. Draft letter from an unidentified sculptor and medalist. 8 pp. in-8, circa 1897. On mourning paper. Restoration of Honfleur's Saint-Etienne church to house a museum [disused in 1791, the former Saint-Etienne church was sold in 1897 to the Société du Vieux Honfleur, which restored it, rebuilt the bell tower, erected a gallery, had stained-glass windows made and exhibited part of its collections there from 1899]. Long draft letter on the restoration project. "[...] I am sending Mr. Bouvier 2 casts of the 2 other figures intended for corbels 1 and 3 from the quay. I am very pleased and flattered by the favorable reception given by the committee to the first two figures [...]. I would like to tell you, once and for all, that for the later works that I may propose to Vieux Honfleur, how much I wish the committee to decide independently [...]". The author of the letter goes into great detail about how he envisages decorating the building, balancing modernity, respect for history and the constraints of a museum. "3° It was the square, the street, that suggested these 4 gossipy figures to me, the whole forming a sort of circumstantial subject: the 1st, a little more adorned, is looking towards the quay, worried and somewhat incensed at the waiter who isn't coming. The other 3 are looking at one of the thousand insignificant incidents in the street; the one leaning back (2nd) is observing with apparent indifference: she must have a bad tongue [...]. If there's anything to be done for St Etienne, I'd be delighted to contribute [...]".
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