114 / 239
113
The artist Lafayette chose was his friend Samuel Morse
(the future telegraph pioneer), who was paid $1000 for
the commission. Morse’s wife had just died, and Lafayette
wrote him a letter of consolation on 12 February (Gottschalk,
Guide
, p.193). The original sketch of that painting was sold
at Sotheby’s New York for $1,360,000 in 2005. It had been
consigned by the New York Public Library. The full-length
portrait is part of the City Hall portrait collection in New York.
This famous portrait was for the first time exhibited in France
in the
Exposition du centenaire
(
Musée de l’Orangerie
, 1934,
n° 210). It was the master piece of the Metropolitan Museum
exhibition of Samuel Morse’s retrospective in 1932’s.
DeWitt Clinton (1769-1828), who had been re-elected Governor
of New York on 1 January 1825, is chiefly remembered as
the driving force behind construction of the great Erie Canal
which, although not quite completed, played a conspicuous
part during Lafayette’s visit. It was to be officially completed on
26 October 1825, soon after his departure.
2 000 / 3 000
€
215
[
LAFAYETTE
, Gilbert du Motier, marquis de].
Lettre signée par vingt enfants
Salem, 21 janvier 1825
3 pp. in-4, brunie, encre pâlie, filigrane “Goodwin” ; avec suscription au
verso du second feuillet (“General Lafayette Washington City District
of Columbia”)
EXEMPLAIRE DE LAFAYETTE : TOUCHANTE LETTRE ÉCRITE
PAR VINGT ENFANTS DE SALEM QUI DEMANDENT AU
GÉNÉRAL DE DEVENIR LE DIRECTEUR DE LA “NEW YORK
STATE TRACT SOCIETY” : “IN BELHALF OF ALL CHILDREN
ON THE COMMON SCHOOLS NOW ASSEMBLED”
“Although we have not participated with millions of our citizens, in the
exalted gratification of seeing you in person, yet your name has been
familiar to us from infancy”, signé par vingt garçons et filles “in behalf of
all the children of the Common Schools now assembled” et demandant
une réponse à adresser au Rev Dr Alexander Proudfit, de Salem
Lafayette had visited Salem the previous August.
The American
Tract Society
had been established in May 1825 in order to
supply schools (see John Forsyth and J.W. Proudfit,
Memoir
of the late Rev Alexander Proudfi
t, 1846). ATS, an evangelical
charity, traces its lineage back through this
New York Tract
Society
(founded 1812) which still exist and is currently
headquartered in Garland, Texas.
800 / 1 200
€
215
(détail)