Henri-Joseph REDOUTÉ (1766-1852), draftsman; he was part of - Lot 48

Lot 48
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Henri-Joseph REDOUTÉ (1766-1852), draftsman; he was part of - Lot 48
Henri-Joseph REDOUTÉ (1766-1852), draftsman; he was part of the Egyptian campaign and responsible for the drawings of plants collected during the expedition; Etienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire made him his personal painter. Autograph letter signed to botanist Alire Raffeneau-Delile (1778-1850). 3 pp. in-4. Paris, November 10, 1806. On the publication of the Description de l'Égypte and the botanical garden at Malmaison. He is pleased to have received her letter, and recalls the times we spent together, "having often shared the same danger in the Oriental expedition. I'll remember for a long time to come, the happy and unhappy times we spent together. I sometimes discuss your new voyage [to America] with your brother Auguste, whom I have the opportunity to see in the company of a few Egyptian companions [...]". He hoped his new position would give him "more leisure for Botany". He has been informed of "the unpleasant adventure that befell our friend Michaux on his crossing to America [botanist and explorer François André Michaux (1770-1855), who was taken prisoner by the English during the crossing]. Three letters he wrote to my brother, the first from Philadelphia on July 3, the other two from New York last September, confirmed the news". If he meets him in America, he asks him to send him his best regards. He gives news of the members of the Egyptian commission, regretting that many of them are scattered in the high judiciary and abroad. "There are almost no more left in the capital than the artists who are working tirelessly on the great work [La Description de l'Égypte], the first part of which is due to be published shortly. We very much regret to see a gap in the omission of the Plant Kingdom, which has been left in abeyance by your absence. I sincerely hope that this interesting part of our work will not be abandoned in oblivion; one day, no doubt, you will publish the new species not yet known, and that I will be able to cooperate in the work by making drawings from the herbarium, having already painted a large number on living nature". He then evokes his brother Pierre-Joseph, Empress Josephine's official painter and protector. "My brother having had occasion to speak recently of you and your resignation from the Consulate to S.M. the Empress, she remembered having promised you on your departure an annual gratuity, which was only paid to you the first year, she immediately instructed to let you know that she was going to give her orders to make you keep the fees in arrears, under the conditions that you would continue to send her the seeds for her Botanical garden at Malmaison". He asks her to send him some seeds, and sends greetings from their old friends Raige, Belleteste, Savigny and Rozier. As a postscript, he concludes with some curious Masonic incantations.
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