Lettre autographe signée à Madame La Grange

Autograph letter signed by Dominique Vivant Denon, politician, writer and artist, who was the first director of the Louvre Museum, then called the Central Museum of Arts of the Republic. He addresses a certain Madame Lagrange, at the Hôtel d'Angiviller.The Louvre workshops had all been transferred to the Hôtel d'Angiviller located at no. 4 rue de l'Oratoire, including the chalcography, the painting restoration and relining workshops formerly in the Arts pavilion (south wing of the Square Court) as well as the casting workshop. Denon presents his apologies to his correspondent, who had entrusted him with presenting to the First Consul the development projects of her architect father. A few years later, the Hôtel d'Angiviller where his correspondent resided was itself subject to renovations: in 1808, the courtyards and gardens located between the hotel and the Louvre palace were destroyed, in order to extend the Place de l'Oratoire to the Place du Louvre. It enjoyed an unobstructed view of the Louvre colonnade until 1854, when it was demolished to make way for the new rue de Rivoli.

"Comment voulez-vous, mon aimable amie, que je demande un local pour d'autres, lorsqu'avec un arrêté et l'urgence d'être logé, je n'ai point encore de quoi mettre ma tête - si je demandais au Premier Consul de lui faire voir le plan de Mr votre père il me dirait que cela regarde le Ministre de l'Intérieur et je ne serais plus en mesure de lui en parler, si je me trouve dans le cas de lui donner une idée de la grandeur de ce travail je ne négligerai rien de ce qui pourra lui faire naître le désir d'en voir le résultat. Si c'était un tableau ou un dessin je [...] mais tout ce qui est architecture ne se regarde pas.
Je regrette bien de n'avoir pu aller vous voir et je n'ai pu encore disposer d'un seul instant [...] mille amitiés
Denon" [How do you expect, my amiable friend, that I should request premises for others, when with a decree and the urgency of being housed, I still have nowhere to lay my head - if I asked the First Consul to show him your father's plan he would tell me that this concerns the Minister of the Interior and I would no longer be in a position to speak to him about it, if I find myself in a position to give him an idea of the magnitude of this work I will neglect nothing that might inspire in him the desire to see the result. If it were a painting or a drawing I [...] but anything architectural is not looked at. I very much regret not having been able to come see you and I have not yet been able to spare a single moment [...] a thousand friendships. Denon]