Georges CLEMENCEAU finally marvels at the sculptures of Pierre Puget.

Georges Clemenceau (1841-1929)

Autographed letter signed to François Thiébault-Sisson.

Three octavo pages on letterhead of the President of the Council.

Paris, December 25, 1919.

« I am at the end of a long life »

Clemenceau finally marvels at the sculptures of Pierre Puget.

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« Dear Colleague, I cannot find the words to thank you for the sentiments that inspired your very kind letter and for the admirable piece of art with which you saw fit to accompany it. I am nearing the end of a long life , and however tired I may be at times, I nonetheless keenly feel the joy of certain endorsements. This is to say that yours gave me particular pleasure, mingled with a rather understandable regret at seeing you forgo, in my favor, the daily contemplation of a piece that I consider among the finest.

I am but an ignoramus, and I confess that until now I had only judged Puget based on the highly tormented caryatids of Toulon. It is therefore a new man who appears to me in your company, and this man, as he manifests himself here, cannot be surpassed. Two hours after receiving it, the object had taken possession of my work table, and from all the visitors there was nothing but a cry of admiration . Rest assured that I will do justice to this true masterpiece in your name and my own. Above all, believe me, your friend G. Clemenceau .

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François Thiebault-Sisson (1856-1944), journalist and art critic, was an admirer of Claude Monet. He opened the pages of Le Temps for a biographical interview with the master of Giverny, published in November 1900. From 1918 onwards, he was one of the fervent advocates for the donation of the Water Lilies to the French State.

Originally from Marseille, painter and sculptor Pierre Puget (1620-1694) sculpted the two atlantes that still appear on the façade of the Toulon town hall.

François Sicard (1862-1934), the official sculptor of Georges Clemenceau, for whom he made the bust and the tombstone, received in 1908 a commission from the State (Clemenceau was then President of the Council) for a sculpture in homage to the "French Michelangelo" Pierre Puget: intended for the Carrousel garden in Paris, it was finally installed in Marseille.