Getty Research Journal

In Search of Marble in Paris for Gian Lorenzo Bernini's Bust of Louis XIV: A Letter from Charles Perrault to Jean-Baptiste Colbert Anne-Lise Desmas In 1991, the Getty Research Institute (GRI) purchased a letter that discusses a master piece by Gian Lorenzo Bernini: the marble bust of Louis XIV, now in the Chateau de Versailles (figs, l, 2).1 Because Paul Freart de Chantelou chronicled Bernini's stay in Paris from 2 June to 20 October 1665, this bust is one of the sculptor's best-documented works of art.2 However, the letter at the GRI fills a gap in the documentation, giving more infor mation about particular problems connected with this commission; namely, the search for marble of good quality and the decision to commission either a statue or a bust of the Sun King. Within ten days of arriving in Paris — as early as 11 June — Bernini had already been informed that he might be asked to carve a portrait of Louis XIV.3 He conveyed to Chantelou his wish to receive the official commission as soon as possible because he would then need to stay longer than he had planned. When the king requested the por trait during Bernini's visit to Saint-Germain-en-Laye on 20 June, the sculptor imme diately worried about two matters that he considered essential to the success of this enterprise.4 He advised Louis XIV that he would need many sittings, which the king accepted, and convinced Chantelou on their return to Paris to undertake the search for a marble block immediately. In fact, as Chantelou wrote in his diary and in a letter dated 21 June to Jean Baptiste Colbert, Louis XIV's minister of finance, the whole of the next day was spent looking for marble.5 In the Tuileries, only one piece could be found—although with spots—whereas there were no acceptable pieces at the Sorbonne. After lunch, Bernini visited the sculptor Gilles Guerin without finding anything to his liking and then went to the Val-de-Grace where he selected one block to be cut in order to judge the inside, which Anguier would take care of the next day.6 The letter at the GRI was sent by Charles Perrault, architect and controller of the king's works, to Colbert as well on 21 June. The architect's letter, written before Bernini's visits to Guerin and to the Val-de-Grace, is longer than Chantelou's account and supplies more details. For instance, Perrault described the block that suited Ber nini in the Tuileries as the one previously delivered to Louis Lerambert to make a large bust. Unfortunately, Perrault does not specify the sitter.7 Perrault also indicated that he had asked Thibault Poissant to come with him that day.8 Indeed, after their visit to the Getty Research Journal, no. 1 (2009): 169-78 © 2009 Anne-Lise D esmas 169 O H Jf 2Aj/i**" I •&£*> 0«. So ij. 7u** -k Co**-HO—-/*Sar +vCv CXt*Irtrrtuuvr— (by /thp Ay tutuls. Sur &. ktri- ** rK «*- ~-h-WM*~ y tuy ajfK4S>\—^Jhc Uvtrxo4UA.t)icfm Josim**- — lA.jfV***) to*.(*r*-■*• h*iMU—-yM-t y uajmI*- f~&*fu>o tutu*aB-/yu*~~j*y 1j luut-tjKi0}t~ uif m. ^euA &>V*A— 3 Ct4fc~ ut&yfrxj. M- 1*(!»lm-v r.vy /«- yr> Caa.. /tvfei***A~ M—fiu/K ^ &./' giAtrvrtHfl u-o ^ ^ tUtM- "tx ftfAtt. ?U.K i"»U« «►»" «■» M" r" *••—»»-- -4y/ { / «»•« /I jt fu^ wrlu^lt. h*s> 6tJ »'•* fj))cur± ajujJ **y***■ ****** jtA\M*- — 4U p*i*~j ft-*-**"''™" vi P 3- c^'C-Za^«- *1- 3, ~~w ^ /«•'V *«a~ ■ f~ * />W.W. ~«'J"" 't"~' ' } « ^ htu. ~J-!<*■ /' .«•»-e™* J. Vr«v<- »■ "•" ' r-a 3..w«- ^ J«'^'"/-" ) u ii*M DkA dU/Y • f " ,, . i ^-r^ f,y.•, ,V,W- A f""" • '" Fig. 2. Charles Perrault to Jean-Baptiste Colbert, 21 June 1665. Los Angeles, Cjetty Research Institute (910173A) 171 Desmas In Search 01 Marble Tuileries, when Perrault drove Bernini home, it was Poissant who informed the group that there were some marble blocks in the Sorbonne and at Guerin's place. The cavaliere then ordered his pupil (most likely Giulio Cartari) to accompany them.10 The relevance of the letter consists of Perrault's main concern that Bernini sculpt a statue instead of a bust. Initially, Perrault was surprised that Bernini had judged the blocks in the Tuileries to be too big. On the way to the Sorbonne, he took the opportunity to question Bernini's pupil, who then explained that his master had no intention of carv ing a statue, but a bust. Nevertheless, Perrault persisted in looking for a block of marble suitable for a statue. Writing to Colbert, he noted that they did not find any interesting blocks in the Sorbonne: "he [Bernini's pupil] for the bust, I for the statue." At Guerin's place, Perrault discovered two good large blocks, but their straightness would perhaps determine the composition of the statue. Guerin, "who knows all the marble of Paris as one of the most curious of all the sculptors," told Perrault that there was no marble for a statue in town but some beautiful blocks of the right dimensions available in Maisons.11 Guerin even submitted a detailed account since he had cut them and the owner had pro posed that he buy them.12 The conclusion of Perrault's letter is very clear: he was asking Colbert which strategy to adopt. Were a small block of marble delivered to Bernini, the sculptor could begin to carve. But, it might then be difficult to make him stop work on a bust in favor of starting a statue. Were a large marble block brought to the Louvre, Perrault was afraid that the sculptor might refuse to work on it. Perrault's efforts to understand what he should do in order to have Bernini make a statue instead of a bust led to the opposite result. On 22 June, Chantelou's diary reported that Bernini was angry at not having received the marble he had requested and that he insisted there be no further discussion about his decision to carve a bust.13 It is impossible to determine whether or not Colbert wanted a standing portrait of the king carved for a precise place when he first asked Perrault to find a marble block for a statue. Did the minister already have it in mind to erect a monument in honor to Louis XIV near the Louvre? Later that summer at the beginning of August, Colbert suggested in a memorandum about the Louvre that he sent Bernini that the artist think of "whatever is beautiful, big and magnificent between both palaces of the Louvre and the Tuileries" and plan a large square on the left bank of the river "in the middle of which a monument to the glory of the king might be erected."14 But a standing statue would have been hardly suit able for such wide spaces; in fact, Bernini proposed on 13 August that an equestrian statue of the king flanked by two columns be placed between the Louvre and the Tuileries.15 In any case, in his aforementioned fit of anger about the marble block he was wait ing for, Bernini explained that "the bust was more suitable for a room, the statue for a gallery, as the one was to be seen close up, the other from a distance and for this very reason it would have to be seven or eight feet high and they had in fact hardly enough marble for a bust, let alone for a statue."16 Thus, the sculptor's argument would lead one to think that the portrait he had been asked to sculpt had always been intended to be displayed inside.17 VJ1 GETTY RESEARCH JOURNAL, NO. 1 (2009) It is likely that, before getting the official commission for a portrait, Bernini had planned to do a bust and had indeed "asked for clay so that he could try out a pose while waiting to start work on the likeness."18 The king's bust was singularly large because of the floating drapery.19 This particular element might have already been fixed in the sculp tor's mind before he was looking for the marble, for it would have had to be taken in con sideration in the block's dimensions. Informed of Bernini's impatience, Perrault wrote again to Colbert to assure him that he had already ordered that the block in front of Lerambert's door and perhaps another from Guerin be delivered that day, while a third one would be carried out from the Val-de-Grace a few days later. Surely annoyed, Perrault concluded that Bernini clearly wanted to avoid the commission of a statue, for when the architect told him he had found marble blocks seven-feet high, the sculptor intentionally answered that he needed one eight-feet high at least, "just to make the thing impossible, as I judge."20 The attentive help of French sculptors, in particular Poissant and Guerin, to obtain marble for a commission they might have envied is not easy to interpret.21 Perhaps they might have earned money from the marble transactions or hoped to be employed on the sculptural decoration of the new Louvre. The documents only indicate that Bernini entrusted Etienne Le Hongre with the models for two standing figures of Hercules.22 The problem of obtaining good marble was also related by Mattia de' Rossi, Ber nini's favorite collaborator, in his letters to the sculptor's oldest son: "[Bernini] tried three blocks of marble without finding any that suits him; he will finally use the least bad one for there is little marble in Paris and that not appropriate for portraits."23 Bernini complained often during the following months about the quality of the marble. In early August, while working on the drapery, he said to Chantelou that "he was very worried by the marble, which he called marmo cotto, which was so friable that he was forced to work with a trepan lest it break under the chisel."24 Ten days later, he confessed "the marble was turning out more satisfactory than he had hoped; [that] he took the greatest care in working it and, for that, needed more time."25 He later managed, in front of Chantelou and others, to ask the mason who was working on the socle "what the marble was like and he told him it was cotto (friable)," so that he could add "the same then, as what I used for the bust."26 Bernini's care and demands about the quality of the marble he would use to carve such an important piece, the portrait of Louis XIV, and under such circumstances, work ing in the presence of the King and court, could make his frequent complaints seem both justified and forgivable. Nevertheless, the master's strong personality leads us to wonder whether his behavior on this particular matter had a subtle purpose. Conservation stud ies of some important sculptures by Bernini have shown that the majority were done in common Carrara marble instead of the better, white statuary marble from the same quarries.27 Therefore, it would seem that Bernini paid little attention to the quality of marble for his commissions in Rome and was even used to working with flawed marble.28 Consequently, could his complaints about the blocks available in Paris not be read as part of a clever strategy to emphasize the exceptional nature of his work? Chantelou's diary 173 Desmas In Search of Marble reports some of Bernini's attempts to call attention to his virtuosity. In August, he told Colbert "he intended to make the drapery like heavy taffeta but did not know whether it would succeed. In any case diligence will make up for the lack of intelligence."29 In early September, he "intimated that he would be happy if, when the King arrived, [Chantelou] would point out how some locks of hair showed through others; it was a most difficult effect to achieve in marble."30 Chantelou later reported that Bernini "had succeeded in removing the tie of marble which supported the drapery," saying that he tried to make it "so that it should not appear that these fluttering draperies were held in place by a nail."31 Pointing out these technical aspects after he insisted on the bad quality of the marble, Bernini could only aim to increase the appreciation of his carving skills.32 However, Bernini's game was perhaps a bit hazardous when he even claimed "he was still astonished at how he had managed to do what he had done: 'this was supernatu ral' for the marble might have been in Paris more than fifty years."33 Such exaggerated behavior at the French court could only lead to the belief that "he was a man predisposed to find nothing well done in France," as the Sun King himself acknowledged, and "an excellent talker" as his friend Chantelou himself had to admit.34 Anne-Lise Desmas is an associate curator in the Department of Sculpture and Decorative Arts at the J. Paul Getty Museum. Notes Notes I warmly thank Andrea Bacchi for encouraging me to publish this letter which he pointed out to me while we were working for the exhibition Bernini and the Birth of Baroque Portrait Sculpture, curatedbyhim, Catherine Hess, and Jennifer Montagu (J. Paul Getty Museum and the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 2008-9). I am very grateful to Nadia Doubins for her help with my English text. l. The letter in the Getty Research Institute (acc. no. 910173A) was acquired at the auction sale in Paris, Drouot-Richelieu, 10-11 December 1991, room no. 12, cat. no. 218 (the entry provides a few quo tations of the letter). For a transcription of the letter, see the appendix. The bust, first displayed in the Louvre, was moved to Versailles to the Salon de Diane in 1685, where it still remains: Simone Hoog, Muste national du Ch&teau de Versailles, Les sculptures, vol. 1, Le Musee (Paris: Reunion des Musses Nationaux, 1993), 238 (no. 1077). 2. Paul Freart de Chantelou had been chosen to accompany the sculptor during his stay. His diary, intended for his brother, was firstpublished by Ludovic Lalanne as a series of articles in the Gazette des Beaux-Arts from 1877 to 1884. In this article, I cite two editions: for all the quotations, Paul Freart de Chantelou, Diary of the Cavaliere Bernini's Visit to France [1665], ed. Anthony Blunt and trans. Margery Corbett (Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press), 1985; for the documents in the original language, Paul Freart de Chantelou, Journal de voyage du Cavalier Bernin en France, ed. Milovan Stanic (Paris: Macula l'Insulaire, 2001). The main study of the bust still remains RudolfWittkovfer, Bernini's Bust ofLouis XIV (London: Oxford Univ. Press), 1951. 3. Chantelou, Diary (note 2), 28 (11 June 1665). 4. Chantelou, Diary (note 2), 38 (20 June 1665). See also the letter from Paul Frfart de Chantelou to Jean-Baptiste Colbert, 21 June 1665, Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France, Melanges Colbert, 130, fol. 36; published in Chantelou, Journal (note 2), 398 ("Annexe V, n° I"). 5- Chantelou, Diary (note 2), 39 (21 June 1665). The letter is the same cited above in note 4. The bust of Louis XIV is most likely in Carrara marble although no conservation study was done to determine the provenance of the block. On the problem of obtaining marble in France, see Genevieve 174 GETTY RESEARCH JOURNAL, NO. 1 (2009) Bresc-Bautier and Henri du Mesnil, "Le marbre du roi: L'approvisionnement en marbre des Batiments du roi, 1660-1771," Eighteenth Century Life 17 (1993): 36-54; Pascal Julien, Marbres: De carrihes enpalais (Toulouse: Le Bee en l'Air, 2006); and Sophie Mouquin, "La dynastie Derbais: Des marbriers brabangons au service du roi de France," in "Pouvoir(s) de marbre," special issue, Dossier de la Commission royale des Monuments, Sites et Fouilles, no. 11 (2004): 97-108. 6. It is impossible to determine whether this was the sculptor Francis Anguier (1604-69) or his brother Michel (1612/14-86), for both were working in 1665 on the Val-de-Grace. Designed by architects Franijois Mansart and Jacques Lemercier, the project was started in 1645 and finished in 1667. In the entry for 13 October, Chantelou recorded that Bernini had admired Francois Anguier's monument to the dukes of Longueville while visiting the church of the Celestines (now in the Musee du Louvre, departement des Sculptures). Chantelou, Diary (note 2), 298. 7. The sculptor Louis Lerambert was also "garde des marbres." He carved the busts of Cardi nal Mazarin and La Meillleraye for a royal commission series realized between 1664 and 1669; Francois Souchal, ed., French Sculptors ofthe 17thand 18th centuries: The Reign ofLouis XIV, 4 vols. (Oxford: Cassirer, 1977-93), 2:388-89 (for Lerambert's biography); 2:391-92,394 (cat. nos. 8,19). Was the block found in front of his door delivered for one of these busts? 8. On Thibault Poissant, see Frangoise de La Moureyre and Henriette Dumuis, "Nouveaux docu ments sur Thibault Poissant, sculpteur des Batiments du Roi," Archives de I'Artfrangais 30 (1989): 51-71. Poissant was then working for the decoration of the Tuileries. In 1667, he had made a mold of Bernini's bust of Louis XIV and delivered several plaster casts of this piece. Poissant's neighbor by the Tuileries was his friend Philippe de Buyster, who later assisted in establishing his inventory after death, while Louis Lerambert attendedhis funeral. During Poissant's stay in Rome (1642-47), where he knew Michel Anguier, he helped Poussin to buy casts for Paul Fr6art de Chantelou. 9. Perrault indicated that they went also to the "port" next to the Tuileries (probably the port Saint-Nicolas as suggested by Christophe Leribault, whom I thank). From 1659 to 1666, Louis XIV had the architect Le Vau work on the CMteau des Tuileries; the sculptors Buyster, Le Hongre, and Poissant carved stone statues and reliefs for the different facades. 10. As we know by Chantelou's letter (see note 4), Bernini would go himself to Gu6rin's place later in the same day and then to the Val-de-Grace. Giulio Cartari roughed out the marble for the bust and even worked on the drapery; see Chantelou, Diary (note 2), 242, and Domenico Bernini, Vita del Cavalier Gio. Lorenzo Bernini (Rome: Rocco Bernab6,1713; reprint, Perugia: Ediart, 1999), 135. Cartari's stay in Rome is documented from 1655 to 1691; see Susanna Zanuso, "Cartari, Giulio," in Andrea Bacchi, ed., La Scultura del '600 a Roma (Milan: Longanesi, 1996), 793-94. ii. Guerin had worked from 1645 to 1651 on the decoration of the Chateau de Maisons, property of the president Rene de Longueil (now called Maisons-Lafitte, near Paris); that could explain why he knew about the blocks and why the owner wanted to sell them to him. 12. Guerin's account of the marble blocks, which Perrault attached to his letter to Colbert, is lost. 13. Chantelou, Diary (note 2), 39 (22 June 1665). 14- Rudolf Wittkower, "The Vicissitudes of a Dynastic Monument: Bernini's Equestrian Statue of Louis XIV," in Millard Meiss, ed., De Artibus Opuscola XL: Essays in Honor ofErwin Panofsky (New York: New York Univ. Press, 1961), 497-531, especially497-98and5i8 (no. 2). For this memorandum, see also Chantelou, Journal (note 2), 367-72 ("Annexe II, no. II"), especially 372. 15. Chantelou, Diary (note 2), 117.For the monument on the leftbank, see Wittkower, "The Vicis situdes" (note 14), 498 (no. 79) and 530-31 (no. 83); and Chantelou, Diary (note 2), 294. 16. Chantelou, Diary (note 2), 39. 17. Colbert did not return to the idea of erecting an equestrian statue of the king until two years 175 Desmas In Search of Marble later in December 1667. This project, Louis XIVon Horseback in marble, was finished by Bernini in 1677 and arrived in France in 1685, two years after Colbert's death. On this statue, see Wittkower, "The Vicissitudes" (note 14); and Simone Hoog, LeBernin, LouisXIV, une statue deplacee (Paris: Biro, 1989). On Colbert's ideas for an equestrian monument of Louis XIV for the Louvre and on the group began by Francois Girardon and destroyed in 1683, see Rognar Josephson, "Le monument du Triomphe pour le Louvre: Un projet de Charles Le Brun retrouve," L'artancien etmoderne 53 (1928): 21-34; and Souchal, French Sculptors (note 7), 2:47-48 (no. 47) and 4:105 (no. 47). 18. Chantelou,Dfa7j(note2),29. 19- The bust's dimensions, including the socle, are 105 x 95.5 x 46.5 centimeters—approximately 4i3/sx 37 s/8 x 18 3/s inches. See Hoog, Musee national (note 1), 238 (no. 1077). 20. Charles Perrault to Jean-Baptiste Colbert, 22 June 1665, Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France, Melanges Colbert, 130, fol. 336; published in Chantelou, Journal (note 2), 305 (note 3 for page 61). Perrault noted that Bernini received the most beautiful block that could be found. Charles Perrault, Memoires de ma vie, ed. Paul Bonnafon (Paris: Librairie Renouard, H. Laurens, 1909), 61: "On porta chez lui le plus beau bloc de marbre qu'on put trouver." See also note 25 (below). 21. Guerin had, however, carved a standing marble statue of the king forthe Hotel de Ville in Paris (now in the Chateau de Chantilly). A terra-cotta model exists (Paris, Musee du Louvre), as does a bronze cast probably after the model (Paris, Musee Carnavalet); see Genevieve Bresc-Bautier's catalog entry in Les bronzes frangais: De la Renaissance au siecle des Lumieres, exh. cat. (Paris: Somogy, 2008), 196-99 (cat. no. 54). 22. For a description of this decoration, see Mattia de' Rossi to Pier Filippo Bernini, 26 June 1665, Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France, Ms. Ital. 2083, fol. 95; published in Chantelou, Journal (note 2), 388 ("Annexe IV, no. III"). On the models, see above all Ragnar Josephson, "Les maquettes du Bernin pour le Louvre," Gazette des Beaux-Arts, ser. 5,1 (1928): 77-92, especially 85-87; and Souchal, French Sculptors (note 7), 2:300 (for Le Hongre's biography) and 2:303-4 (cat. no. 8). 23. Letter from Mattia de' Rossi to Pier Filippo Bernini, 10 and 17 July 1665, Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France, Ms. Ital. 2083, fol. 211 and 319; published in Chantelou, Journal (note 2), 390-91 ("Annexe IV, no. IV and no. V"). One could even think that, in case of accident, Bernini would have thus had other blocks available to begin a new version. Chantelou mentioned that two blocks were delivered on 30 June, one from Gu6rin and one from Buyster, who worked on the Val-de-Grace; see Chantelou, Diary (note 2), 44. The Comptes des Batiments du Roi sous le regne de Louis XIV, vol. 1, ed. Jules Guiffrey (Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1881), 98,100, indicate indeed that the sculptors Buyster and Guerin were paid for one and two marble blocks, respectively, for the bust of the king while Louis Lerambert was paid for saw ing and carrying marble blocks for Bernini. 24. Ghantelou, Diary (note 2), 99 (4 August 1665). 25. Chantelou, Diary (note 2), 121 (15 August 1665). 26. Chantelou, Diary (note 2), 207 (19 September 1665). 27. Anna Goliva, ed., Bernini scultore: La tecnica esecutiva (Rome: De Luca, 2002), 26. See also the technical reports done for individual sculptures with comments by Peter Rockwell, passim. 28. Coliva, Bernini scultore (note 27), 26. There is no evidence Bernini ever went to Carrara to choose his blocks like other sculptors did. His use of low-quality marble could have created serious prob lems; for example, the well-known break on the front of the bust of Scipione Borghese (firstversion, Rome, Villa Borghese). 29. Chantelou, Diary (note 2), 101-2 (5 August 1665). 30. Ghantelou, Diary (note 2), 162 (3 September 1665). 31. Chantelou, Diary (note 2), 207. Perrault was very critical of this drapery, for it seems to be put around the marble bust in a way that it could not have been put around the body of the king. See Perrault, 176 GETTY RESEARCH JOURNAL, NO. 1 (2009) Memoires (note 20), 63. 32. But, in his diary, Chantelou reported above all on the theoretical reflections that Bernini made on the art of portraiture, which aimed to emphasize the brilliance of his talent as well as these tech nical considerations. On Bernini as an ardent advocate of the nobility of portraiture, see Diane Bodart, "L'excellence du portrait par Gian Lorenzo Bernini, ou la ressemblance a l'epreuve de Yidea," Studiolo 4 (2006): 39-60. 33- Chantelou, Diary (note 2), 207 (19 September 1665). See, for instance, how Perrault laughed at Bernini's exaggeration in his speeches. Perrault, Memoires (note 20), 68. 34- Louis XIVs impression was reported by Carlo Vigarani in a letter to the court of Modena in Chantelou, Journal (note 2), 304 (note 1for page 61): "Un homme pr^venu kne rien trouver de bien fait en France." Chantelou, Diary (note 2), 15 (6 June 1665). Appendix Letter from Charles Perrault to Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Paris, 21 June 1665. Research Library, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (910173A). The spelling was respected; accents, case, and punctuation have been modernized. De Paris, le 21 juin, Comme je sortais ce matin pour executer l'ordre que j'ay receu de Monsieur de chercher le plus beau et le plus grand bloc de marbre qu'il y ayt a Paris, Mons[ieu]r de Chantelou m'est venu dire que Mons[ieu]r le cavalier Bernin, a qui il avoit dit que je pourrois avoir connoissance des lieux oil sont les plus beaux marbres, m'attendoit pour aller les voir avec luy. Je Pay les ay menez sur le port ou il n'a rien trouve qui luy agreast, qu'un morceau de marbre qui est devant la porte de Lerambert, qui est le morceau que j'avois fait delivrer pour faire un grand buste. Encore a-t-il trouve qu'il y avoit quelques taches, mais ce que j'ay remarque est qu'il ne fait estat de faire qu'un buste mais parce que, luy ayant monstre de grands blocs, il les a tous rebuttez par la raison qu'ils etoient trop grands. Apres cette visite des marbres, je l'ay reconduit chez luy et le [illegible text, crossed out] s[ieu]r Pois san que j'avois pris avec moy m'ayant dit qu'il y en avoit de beaux en Sorbonne et chez le s[ieu]r Guerin, nous y avons este avec un esleve du d[it] cavalier Bernin qui a souhaitte qu'il vinst avec nous pour [verso] visiter les d[it]s marbres. Par le chemin j'ay seu de cet esleve que l'intention du d[i]t s[ieu]r cavalier estoit de ne faire qu'un buste, ce qu'il m'a dit fort distinctement, adjoustant pour raison qu'il faudroit trop de temps pour faire la figure entiere et qu'il ne visoit que la ressemblance. Nous n'avons rien trouve en Sor bonne qui nous accomodast, luy pour le buste, moy pour la figure. Chez Guerin, il a trouve un bloc parfaittement beau et juste de la mesure qu'il demande pour son buste. II en a pris quelque estat pour le monstrer au cavalier Bernin, faisant estat de l'envoyer querir demain matin. Il s'est trouve chez Guerin deux blocs de six pieds dont on pourroit faire une figure, le marbre en estant fort beau mais un peu estroit en sorte que l'attitude pour roit estre contrainte. M[onsieu]r le cavalier Bernin a desja este chez le s[ieu]r Anguier ou il n'a rien trouve de bon. II doit cette apres disnee aller au Val de Grace voir s'il en trouvera. Le s[ieu]r Guerin qui s§ait tous les marbres de Paris comme [second page] le plus curieux de tous les sculpteurs m'a asseure qu'il n'y en avoit point a Paris tel que je le 177 Desmas In Search of Marble demande, qui seroit de 6 a 7 pieds pour faire une belle figure de taille heroi'que, mais qu'il y a a Maisons sur le bord de la riviere, neuf blocs dont il y en a quatre de 6 a 7 pieds de fort beau marbre et un entre les autres parfait en tout ce qu'il s^ait pour les avoir examinez et soudez, Mons[ieu]r de Maisons ayant voulu les luy vendre. J'en envoye le memoire a Monsieur que le d[it] Guerin m'a donne. J'ay cru devoir advertir Monsieur en toute diligence de l'intention de M[onsieu]r le cavalier Bernin parce qu'elle ne s'accorde point avec le billet qu'il a plu a Monsieur de m'escrire. beau; II me mandera s'il luy plaist ce que j'ay a faire: si je feray venir le bloc de Maisons ne s'en trouvant point a Paris d'asscz d'aussy si je ne feray point tout ce que je pourray pour empescher qu'il ne fasse enlever un bloc pour un buste en demandant ordre aux ouvriers de ne rien donner sans ordre parce que je crains qu'ayant commence un buste il ne fust difficile de l'obliger a faire une figure. Je crains (Tun autre coste de faire arriver un grand bloc de marbre et qu'ensuitte il refusast d'y travailler. Le porteur reviendra en toute diligence amn que je sois instruit le plus tost qu'il se pourra. [verso] M[onsieur] Perrault 21 juin 1665 17o GETTY RESEARCH JOURNAL, NO. 1 (2OO9) ...