French architect (1822-1900). Autograph letter signed. Servanes prés Mouriés. 17.11.1893. 8vo. 1½ pp. on bifolium.
$ 88 / 80 €
(45082/BN31154)
Beautiful letter to a fellow member of the Académie de Marseille, delegating his voting rights within the Académie to the recipient due to his "great and grave preoccupations" with the completion of the Marseille Cathedral that was now imminent: "Voici le pouvoir que vous me demandez : je ne puis le confier en meilleures mains : certain que vous en ferez usage pour le mieux des intérêts de l'Académie. J'ai eu de grandes et graves préoccupations depuis quelques années : enfin l'horizon s'éclaircit un peu, et peut-être serai-je plus livre : La Cathédrale de Marseille devant bientôt être remise au Clergé.
Croyez qu'il me dera très agréable ; si je puis enfin dire 'Deus mihi hæc otia fecit' d'aller reprendre place au milieu de mes confrères par ma présence ou par mes travaux". - Only 13 days after writing the letter, on 30 November 1893, could Henri Antoine Révoil hand over the largely finished cathedral to bishop Joseph Jean Louis Robert. Révoil was the third and final architect of the cathedral that was built between 1852 and 1893. Following the deaths of the first architect Léon Vaudoyer (1803-72) and his student Henri-Jacques Espérandieu (1829-74), Révoil took over the construction site and was also responsible for the design of the ornaments. - Well preserved..
French architect (1822-1900). Autograph letter signed. Servanes prés Mouriés. 02.07.1895. Small-8vo. 2 pp. on bifolium.
$ 99 / 90 €
(45083/BN31155)
To the journalist and music critic Charles Vincens, originally accompanying an official authorization to vote in his stead for the reception of Charles Champoiseau to the Académie de Marseille. In the letter, Révoil cites his numerous "construction sites", including restorations of historical buildings, final works on the Marseille Cathedral ("la Major"), and Notre Dame de la Garde, leaving him "not one hour of freedom": "Voici mon pouvoir ; je ne saurai le confier entre meilleures mains. Je suis tout heureux de donner ma voix à Mr Champoiseau, et tout hereuc aussi de cette circonstance qui me permet de vous redire toute ma sympathie.
Vous êtes vraiment trop aimable de me renouveler votre gracieuse invitation. Ma vie est si absorbée par mes travaux qu'elle me prive souvent des choses qui me seraient le plus agréable : Mes chantiers des monuments hisotriques, celui de la Major, et de Notre Dame de Garde ne me laissent pas une heure de liberté. Je tâcherai certainement de vous voir à mon prochain voyage à Marseille [...]". - The archaeologist Charles Champoiseau (1830-1909) is best known for the discovery of the Hellenistic Winged Victory of Samothrace in 1863. - On mourning paper..
French architect (1822-1900). Autograph letter signed and autograph document signed. Servanes prés Mouriés. 8vo. and small-8vo. Together 2½ pp. on bifolia.
$ 99 / 90 €
(45084/BN31156)
Both to the music critic and journalist Charles Vincens, the document being an authorization to vote in Révoil's stead in an upcoming reception at the Académie de Marseille. In the letter that accompanies the document, Révoil expresses his gratitude to Vincens and consents to have him vote for the composer Théodore Thurner, based on Vincens' recommendation, as he does not know Thurner personally. - The letter on mourning paper.