Details
DAVID, Jacques-Louis (1748-1825). Autograph letter signed to an unidentified correspondent ('Monsieur le Comte et cher élève', probably the Comte de Forbin), Brussels, 26 November 1819, 2 pages, 4to, blank (traces of guard on verso).
'Vous connoissés mon attachement à ma patrie, ma passion pour les arts, qui brillent avec tant d'éclat depuis surtout que Vous les faites Valoir, et par vos exemples, et par votre crédit; Vous savés que ce que j'ai fait pour conserver à mon pays ce qui aurait pu en être enlevé'; David goes on to thank his correspondent for some gifts.
David's probable correspondent, the Comte de Forbin (1771-1841), a former pupil with whom he was on excellent terms, had succeeded Denon as controller of the royal museums, and under his aegis the French state recovered in 1819 several of David's most famous works including his depiction of the coronation of Napoleon. From 1816 David lived in Brussels where he had a circle of wealthy patrons.
'Vous connoissés mon attachement à ma patrie, ma passion pour les arts, qui brillent avec tant d'éclat depuis surtout que Vous les faites Valoir, et par vos exemples, et par votre crédit; Vous savés que ce que j'ai fait pour conserver à mon pays ce qui aurait pu en être enlevé'; David goes on to thank his correspondent for some gifts.
David's probable correspondent, the Comte de Forbin (1771-1841), a former pupil with whom he was on excellent terms, had succeeded Denon as controller of the royal museums, and under his aegis the French state recovered in 1819 several of David's most famous works including his depiction of the coronation of Napoleon. From 1816 David lived in Brussels where he had a circle of wealthy patrons.
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