184 / 239
183
306
RIDGELY
, Eliza
Lettre autographe signée au marquis de Lafayette
Baltimore, 1er octobre 1827
3 pp. in-4
BELLE LETTRE DE L’UNE DES GRANDES FEMMES DU ROMANTISME AMÉRICAIN,
CONNUE SURTOUT POUR SON PORTRAIT PAR THOMAS SULLY : “THE LADY
WITH THE HARP”
“a most delightful surprise awaited me on my return from a summer excursion (...) as you are in
the constant habit of reading American papers you are aware that the Presidential questions still
occupies the attention of the political world (...) Permitt me to offer my congratulations upon the
marriage of your granddaughter
avec une APOSTILLE AUTOGRAPHE DE LAFAYETTE : “
answrd t[o]. b[e]. k[ept]
”
Eliza Eichelberger Ridgely (1803-1867) was an American heiress, traveler, arbiter of
fashion, and mistress of Hampton, the Ridgely plantation north of Towson, Maryland.
She is the
Lady with a Harp
of Thomas Sully’s portrait (
National Gallery of Art
,
Washington, D.C). She met and befriended the Marquis de Lafayette during the
Farewell Tour
and stayed in contact with him for the rest of his life. Some of his letters
to her have survived, including an invitation to visit La Grange, his country estate in
France and his congratulations on her marriage. Gottschalk records ten letters, some
of them being in the
Maryland Historical Society
, the rest in a private collection. No
letter is recorded by ABPC
1 500 / 2 000
€
Lady with a Harp, portrait of Eliza Ridgely.
Thomas Sully, 1818.
National Gallery of Art, Washington
306