Auguste Bartholdi is concerned about the pedestal of his Lion statue in Place Denfert Rochereau in Paris.

 

Auguste Bartholdi (1834-1905), sculptor. Signed autograph letter, 1 March 1880, to « mon cher ami ». One and a half pages in-8° with his initial.

On his replica of his famous sculpture of the Lion of Belfort in Place Denfert-Rochereau in Paris.

« Mon cher ami,

avec Messieurs Mesureur et Monduit je vais faire préparer le piédestal du Lion. Avant de s’engager avec moi dans ces frais, ils aimeraient bien avoir la certitude que le Lion sera exposé dans les conditions décoratives dont nous avons parlé, et ils croient qu’il faut une acceptation de l’administration.

S’il y a lieu je vous adresserai ma demande officiellement. Envoyez-moi, je vous prie, votre réponse à ce sujet ; je pense qu’on vous aura remis la photographie et la notice que vous m’aviez demandée.

Veuillez agréer toutes les amitiés de votre bien dévoué et chaleureux collaborateur.

A. Bartholdi »

[My dear friend, / Together with Messrs. Mesureur and Monduit, I am going to have the pedestal for the Lion prepared. Before committing to these expenses with me, they would like to be certain that the Lion will be displayed in the decorative conditions we discussed, and they believe that this requires approval from the administration. / If necessary, I will send you my request officially. Please send me your response on this matter; I believe you will have received the photograph and information sheet you requested from me. / Please accept the warmest regards of your devoted and loyal colleague. / A. Bartholdi]

The Monduit and Mesureur workshops, which specialised in producing cast iron, iron and lead ornaments, were involved in major construction and restoration projects in Paris. Bartholdi called on them for the Statue of Liberty in New York in 1886.

The sculpture is a hammered copper replica, reduced to one-third of its original size, of his Lion of Belfort (carved from rock in Belfort), measuring 4 m high and 7 m long. It symbolises the resistance of Colonel Aristide Denfert-Rochereau during the siege of the stronghold of Belfort during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. At the 1878 sculpture exhibition in Paris, Bartholdi exhibited a plaster model reproducing the lion at one-third of its final size. The Paris City Council acquired it in 1880 for 20,000 francs and wanted to install it in the Buttes-Chaumont, but a petition from the residents of the 14th arrondissement, who wanted to make it a powerful symbol of Paris, decided on its final location, Place Denfert-Rochereau.

The monument was officially inaugurated in 1880. ‘We have no monument more noble than the lion. It is our talisman and a symbol of virility for the inhabitants of the surrounding area.’ (H. Calet, Le Tout sur le tout, ch. XXVII).

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