Auguste BARTHOLDI (Colmar 1834 - Paris 1904). French sculpto - Lot 16

Auguste BARTHOLDI (Colmar 1834 - Paris 1904). French sculptor in the academic tradition. He was commissioned to build the Statue of Liberty and the Lion of Belfort. From design to construction of the Statue of Liberty On April 21, 1865, Edouard de LABOULAYE, professor of law at the Collège de France, and an ardent promoter of the American political system, suggested at a reception held in his provincial home near Metz, that France should offer the young American nation a monumental statue symbolizing Liberty Enlightening the World, thus sealing the friendship between the two countries, and that the project should be entrusted to Auguste BARTHOLDI, a young 31-year-old architect . Construction of the statue did not begin in Paris, however, until 1875. Political and financial difficulties, the defeat of 1870, followed by the troubles of the Commune, delayed the start of construction by almost ten years. Although the statue was due to be inaugurated on July 4, 1876, during the commemoration of the centenary of American independence, construction had barely begun. In the meantime, Bartholdi, who had visited New York, had spotted a small island called Belloe's Island, ideally located in front of Manhattan, which he chose to erect the statue, and which would become Liberty Island. The monumental statue was built on the premises of the Gaget-Gauthier & Cie foundry, located at 25 rue de Chazelles in the 17th arrondissement, and gradually rose above the horizon of the Plaine Monceau. And the torch wielded by this colossal iron lady was designed by the famous architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc. Financing sought in France and the United States To attract American donations, the statue's hand was presented at the Philadelphia Exposition Universelle in 1876, and the head at the Paris Exposition in 1878, where it was displayed on the Champ de Mars and visitors could climb on it by purchasing a ticket. The arrival of Gustave EIFFEL When Eugène Viollet-le-Duc died in 1879, Gustave Eiffel was approached to complete the statue's construction. He decided to introduce a metal armature inside the structure to reinforce it, and to have the statue rest on a large metal base built on the island, which put the torch more than 93 meters above the ground. Dismantling and shipping to New York Finally completed in 1883, the statue was dismantled and shipped to the United States, with all parts labelled and placed in numbered crates, so that it could be rebuilt on the awaiting pedestal. The statue was finally inaugurated on October 28, 1886, in the presence of U.S. President Cleveland and Bartholdi, who climbed to the top of the torch. Two letters testifying to Bartholdi's financial difficulties - L.a.s. "Bartholdi" Paris August 23, 1878, 2 pp. ½ in-8, with his cipher. Exhausted and discouraged, Bartholdi solicits the support of historian Henri MARTIN to raise awareness among political leaders, in order to obtain the necessary funding to complete the project entrusted to him: "... If you could write a warm word to Mr Girard, the Under-Secretary of State, it would be of considerable importance ... You are, dear Sir, the only person I dare to speak to about this, for despite Mr LABOULAYE's advice and that of my mother, it has been impossible for me to take any steps ...". - L.a.s. "Bartholdi" Paris July 19, 1883, 2 pp. ½ in-8, in his cipher. Kind letter declining an invitation from Henri MARTIN to accompany him on a trip outside Paris, where his presence is indispensable: "... There are too many things that require my presence here and I find it impossible to leave! I would have been very happy to be able to travel with you...", and the letter goes on to mention the arrival in Paris of members of a society of Hungarian travelers, to whom he could show the Statue, which was still standing in rue de Chazelles...: "... I am enclosing an invitation card that you could send them, and if necessary I would go and receive them...".