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Three letters:
An autograph and signed letter from Jacques-Louis
David (1748-1825) to the painter Joseph-Denis Odevaere
(1778-1830) dated Brussels, 21 January 1818; 2 1/2 p. on a folded sheet
in-8� (inv. no. 2003-A.1234)
During his exile in Brussels, David resumed close contact with his former
Belgian pupil Odevaere. In this letter, David encourages Odevaere to show
his The Prince of Orange in Waterloo (Brussels, Palace of Justice)
at a paying exhibition in London. The letter’s main interest, however,
lies in its unpublished final paragraph, where David writes of the curious
drawings – character heads and groups of half-figures – which
are so typical of his later years in Brussels. He writes, among other things,
that he has now finished thirty-two of these, eight frames of four drawings
each, and that he is developing one of them into a painting for a Walloon.
The dimensions mentioned by David indicate that this painting must be The
Wrath of Achilles (1819, Fort Worth, Kimbell Art Museum), which was
painted for André Parmentier in Enghien, near Brussels. The first
ideas for this work would thus seem to have originated in January 1818.
Bibliography: Jules David, Le peintre Louis David,
1748-1825. Souvenirs et documents inédits, Paris 1880, p.
552; Daniel & Georges Wildenstein, Documents complémentaires
au catalogue de l’œuvre de Louis David, Paris 1973, no.
1812; Antoine Schnapper, ‘David et l’argent’, in R. Michel
(ed.), David contre David (actes du colloque Paris, Musée
du Louvre, 1989), vol. II, Paris 1993, p. 920
An autograph and
signed letter fromKoloman Moser
(1868-1918) to an unknown addressee (�Liebes Kind�) s.l., 22 September 1904;
4 pages on a double sheet in-8�
(inv. no. 2003-A.242)
Like other architects of his
time, the Viennese Koloman Moser also designed jewels and clothes. His interest
in fashion is exemplified by the letter presented here, in which Moser critically
discusses a dress described in an earlier letter by the unknown addressee.
‘Lampenschirm’ (lampshade) is his terse comment. He then describes
and draws a gown which he has himself designed: a wide, fan-like dress beneath
a fitted, short silk blouse, with long sleeves extending over the wrists.
Although the lady to whom the letter is addressed remains unknown, there
is a gown in the collection of the Historisches Museum der Stadt Wien which
seems to have resulted from her correspondence with Moser: its most significant
features match those of the gown described by Moser in this letter.
Bibliography: cf.
Werner Fenz, Koloman Moser, Salzburg & Vienna 1984, pl. 29;
a letter dated 27 September 1904 in the sale Berlin, J.A. Stargardt, 30
November-1 December 1988, no. 654
Autograph
and signed letter from Ludwig Schnorr von Carolsfeld
(1788-1853) to his father Veit Hans Friedrich Schnorr von
Carolsfeld (1764-1841) undated (Vienna, spring 1805 ?); 4 p. on a
folded sheet in-8� (inv. no. 2003-A.935)
In recent years, some
thirty letters and manuscripts from the relatively unknown Ludwig Schnorr
von Carolsfeld have been acquired for the Frits Lugt Collection. In this
letter, the seventeen year old Vienna Akademie student relays to his father
in Leipzig the exasperating behaviour of a fellow student, his own tentative
steps in oil painting, and the kind attentions of his revered teacher, Friedrich
Heinrich Füger. A romantic note is struck by his rapturous evocation
of a trip to the ‘göttliche Briel’ with fellow-students.
The Frits Lugt Collection also contains letters from patrons of Ludwig Schnorr
von Carolsfeld, including Archduke Johann of Austria (1782-1859) and the
politician Joseph Freiherr von Hormayr zu Hortenburg (1781-1848). A number
of letters from Ludwig’s far more famous brother Julius (1794-1872)
have also been acquired; some of these date from his years in Rome, where
he joined the group of painters known as the Nazarenes. The Collection also
contains some ten letters from the father of both artists, Veit Hans Schnorr
von Carolsfeld, as well as an early manuscript copy of his Lebensgeschichte
of 1835.
