Pierre-Jean DAVID D'ANGERS (1788-1856). L.A.S., Paris, July - Lot 6

Pierre-Jean DAVID D'ANGERS (1788-1856). L.A.S., Paris, July 29, 1847; 2 pages in-4 (one edge a little frayed). On the subject of Pyrenean marble, which he would be delighted to see exploited: it would be "an immense advantage for France and a great boon for statuaries because they could have this marble for 25f. per cubic foot while Carrara marble costs 90 to 100f. [...] If companies were to take charge of exploitation, if the government were to make a formal commitment to stop bringing marble from Italy, France would have one more branch of industry. What is detrimental to French marble is that we have had very defective blocks arrive in Paris", because the quarries are operated by private individuals. Italian quarries also produce pieces "that we are obliged to abandon because of the wires that run through them". Among the Pyrenean marble statues he cites is Foyatier's Cincinnatus; and he himself has just "completed, in St Béat marble, the monument to Gal Gobert" at Père-Lachaise, consisting of "an equestrian group of colossal proportions, and four bas-reliefs"; he has also made "in Sost marble a statue which is placed on the tomb of Marco Botzaris at Missolonghi". Sost marble is very hard and fine pieces can be found in the Louvie and Gabas quarries, "with a paste as solid as Carrara", as well as in the Dauphiné... We enclose 3 l.a.s. by photographer Gaston Braun, Eugène Isabey, and architect Léon Ohnet (to A. Lorentz).