Frédéric Auguste BARTHOLDI describes and draws a fountain for Bordeaux.

Frédéric Auguste BARTHOLDI (1834.1904)

Autographed letter signed to the Inspector General of Bridges and Roads of Bordeaux.

One page in quarto on lined paper.

Paris. May 15, 1887.

"We will arrange things for the bronzes (...) both for the lion heads and for the cornucopias."

Magnificent document enriched with an original drawing by Bartholdi illustrating his fountain.

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"Mr. Inspector General of Bridges and Roads in charge of the municipal service of Bordeaux.

Inspector, I hasten to inform you in response to your very honourable [letter] dated May 13, that I assumed all the foundations of the fountain to be largely pierced ; but only for the passage of the pipes.

We will arrange for the bronzes so that they can be easily dismantled , by means of nuts which would fix them on rods sealed in the stone, both for the lion heads and for the cornucopias to which two small pipes end which project the water.

I believe it is always useful to make these bronzes easy to dismantle for repairs. When the time comes, sir, you will give me your opinion and I will have the stone made accordingly . Please accept, sir, the assurance of my highest consideration. Bartholdi.

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This letter appears to be related to the fountain officially named "The rivers and springs going to the ocean" now located in Place des Terreaux, in Lyon, and more commonly known as the Bartholdi Fountain.

Originally intended for the city of Bordeaux (which abandoned the project launched 30 years earlier), the fountain was acquired by the city of Lyon thanks to its mayor, Antoine Gailleton, who was captivated by the work discovered during the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1889. The inauguration took place on September 22, 1892.