Very rare letter from the immense architect Jacques-Germain SOUFFLOT. 1768.

Jacques-Germain SOUFFLOT (1713-1780)

Autograph letter signed to the Marquis de Marigny.

One page in folio. Residue of wax seal in upper left corner.

Paris, May 12, 1768

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“ Sir, writing to me about what is being built to connect Mr. C or Stou's with what is being built. there remain portions which were cut down, for the enlargement of the square : as the major work is advanced I am going to have the survey made , to give you the account that you ask of me; as for the interior adjustments, Mr. C or Stou will make them at his own expense , as he has always done them in the rest of the house , as you have seen , Sir, by the state he has in it. had given when you wanted to accommodate him at the Beuvron hotel .

With regard to his brother I was very sure he ^was not capable of giving rise to the sentence of Madame de Malesherbes as she had written it to you ; , I had the honor of seeing her as soon as I could , she told me that she had not seen Mr. C or Stou for several years : but that the Switzerland had told him that upon a request he had made to him for reparations , he had replied that major ones would only be made when a new chancellor came to the hotel , and that in order not to not to elaborate on have , with reason, given you reason to believe that M. loaned; Madame de Malesherbes was very angry at ^the reproaches she caused him ; as well as Mr. de Malesherbes who promised him that he would come see you and certify to you that all this was only a qui pro quo based on a report devoid of truth and accuracy.

I am with deep respect Sir, Your very humble and very obedient servant. Soufflot. Paris on May 12, 1768.”

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Superintendent of the King's buildings, Marigny was a great builder during the reign of Louis XV, and a fervent promoter of architectural neoclassicism. Thanks to Soufflot, he helped change the face of the capital, notably by defining new places. The architect and the superintendent responded to a hygiene problem while allowing the beautification of the capital.

Abandoned for Versailles, the Louvre was in an advanced state of disrepair in the mid-18th century. Marigny, in response to the criticisms that were raised, did not remain inactive: he expelled from the Cour Carrée all the parasites who had taken up residence there, and had the buildings destroyed. On the other side, on the Place du Louvre, between the colonnade and Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois, he had the facade cleared by demolishing what remained of the Hôtel du Petit-Bourbon and all the other adjacent buildings. . (These works were immortalized in Demachy's paintings.) It is these works, and the Place du Louvre, which are the subject of this letter. The workshop of Nicolas Coustou, the renowned sculptor of Marly horses, was destroyed on this occasion.

The Coustou workshops demolished, Marigny plans to rebuild other workshops for this sculptor from the Academy on the site of the gardens of the Beuvron and Rouillé hotels. The king having given the Countess of Séran the use of the Hôtel de Beuvron in January 1768, Marigny had already had the task of having it completely restored and decorated.

The second part of the letter concerns Charles-Pierre Coustou, brother of Guillaume, architect to the king and lawyer. Soufflot tries to explain to Marigny that the dispute between Coustou and Mme de Malesherbes is the result of a misunderstanding, and that Coustou's offensive remarks have been distorted.

The inventory after Soufflot's death was carried out on September 7, 1780 by Charles-Pierre Coustou.