Autographed letter signed to Georges Glaenzer.
A superb letter from Bartholdi evoking the Statue of Liberty and his emotion regarding the progress of the work on his masterpiece, under construction in Paris.
"I think the amateurs who take up the torch will experience a rather strange feeling."
Sold
Frédéric BARTHOLDI (1834.1904)
Autographed letter signed to Georges Glaenzer.
Three octavo pages on paper bearing his letterhead.
Paris. December 19, 1882.
"I think the amateurs who take up the torch will experience a rather strange feeling."
A superb letter from Bartholdi evoking the Statue of Liberty and his emotion regarding the progress of the work on his masterpiece, under construction in Paris.
"My dear friend, it is always with great pleasure that I receive the newspapers bearing the charming little purple Glaenzer stamp. It gives me news of you and shows that your thoughts cross the water and live on with us. We at the Committee were delighted to receive news of the American Committee's involvement. We certainly owe a special thank you to your dear father-in-law, and I wish to express this through you as I mail an official letter from Mr. Laboulaye addressed to Mr. Evarts and his Committee. I am also sending you some photographs detailing the work. We are making rapid progress, and in the spring our colossus will be seen soaring above the Parc Monceau. It is already getting remarkably tall, and I believe that the enthusiasts who climb aboard the torch will experience a rather strange sensation. So, as you can see, everything is going well, and if the subscription in America follows the same trajectory as the last meeting, all will be well." Please convey to your dear father-in-law how deeply I share in his sorrows and worries; let us hope that he will find the satisfaction he so richly deserves. My wife joins me in sending you, Mrs. Glaenzer, and all those around you our warmest wishes for the New Year, and I shake your hand with all my heart, your devoted Bartholdi. Mr. de Stuckle, currently in New York, is to see you to discuss a large painted canvas of the monument that could be of use to the Committee, and which we present to him as a gift.
The statue's components were stored in the courtyard of the Gaget and Gauthier workshops in Paris, awaiting assembly. Bartholdi's idea was to create a complete assembly of the statue before sending it to New York. For several years, the Parisian landscape was thus dominated by this imposing 46-meter-high metal structure, its size dwarfing the nearby Parc Monceau.
In this letter, Bartholdi mentions men who were crucial to the construction of the Statue:
Georges Auguste Glaenzer (1848-1915), friend and regular correspondent of Bartholdi, expatriate in New York, was Secretary of the French Commission for Subscription to the Statue of Liberty.
Édouard de Laboulaye (1811-1883) whom history remembers as the one who inspired the idea of offering a statue to America to seal transatlantic friendship.
Henri de Stucklé , a French engineer living in America, participated in the studies for the base of the statue in New York.
William M. Evarts (1818-1901) chaired a Subscription Committee tasked with raising funds for the construction of the pedestal from 1877 onwards
Bartholdi's letters mentioning the creation of the Statue are extremely rare.