Autographed letter signed.
Extraordinary document of Bartholdi drawing his Statue of Liberty with a pen.
"I had one altered for a brochure by removing all the background text and the spokes up to a certain height around the statue."
Sold
Frédéric BARTHOLDI (1834.1904)
Autographed letter signed.
Two octavo pages. Belfort, April 10, 1880
Extraordinary document of Bartholdi drawing his Statue of Liberty with a pen.
"Sir, The print I sent you was made photographically from a pen drawing. It had been repeated five times. I had one adapted for a brochure by removing all the background text and the lines up to a certain height around the statue, like this [following the drawing] , and it gave good results; this is what gave me the idea of offering you the same. It was never made from wood, and it is the only engraving I had to offer you. I regret not being able to better meet your expectations; I have no other excuse to give you, except that I sent you what I could, having nothing else. But have a proof tried, and you will see that the result is not defective. Please accept, dear Sir, with my regrets, the expression of my best regards. Bartholdi. Belfort, April 10, 1880"
The result of a collaborative effort between Bartholdi, Viollet-le-Duc, and later Eiffel, the statue required enormous funds and a much longer development time than initially planned: while it was supposed to be inaugurated in 1876 (the bicentennial of the Declaration of Independence), it was still under construction on the Plaine-Monceau site in 1880. Dominating Paris, it became one of the capital's major attractions. It was only in 1886, ten years late, that it was transported to New York and then inaugurated in the presence of President Grover Cleveland on October 28.
The image referred to in this letter is very likely the one that appears on the famous promotional postcard of the monument: the rays of light are in the same place as in the drawing in our letter.