Auguste Rodin - Autographed Letter Signed To His Patron - Museum Of Fine Arts Lyon

Auguste RODIN (1840 - 1917), French sculptor
Autograph letter signed to Maurice Fenaille. March 25, 1903; 3 pages in-8° on paper addressed to 182 rue de l'Université [Paris]. Folds, envelope preserved
Auguste Rodin asks his friend and patron, Maurice Fenaille, to help him finalize the sale of three works for the Museum of Fine Arts in Lyon, works now present at the museum: "I still have life in Meudon, but I am well and I will go if it is good for you, Wednesday to have lunch with you. I have a request to make to you and to Madame Fenaille. First I present to you Mr. Doctor Tripier delegate of Lyon and Mr. Baudin who came to Paris for the Museum of Lyon. These gentlemen asked me for the Museum of Lyon the marble Temptation of St. Anthony plus a large plaster group Orpheus and Eurydice. These gentlemen who came to Meudon, a bust of the plaster busts of Madame Fenaille which excited them, and I join them in asking you to let it be taken for the museum. Which would make for me a set of sculptures in this great city of Lyon, which would make me known by a bust and 2 groups. May Madame Fenaille help us with her good grace and kindness. To you my dear friend your devoted and grateful (…) Mr. Doctor Tripier and Mr. Baudin are members of the Consultative Commission of Museums » Maurice Fenaille (1855 – 1937), great French industrialist, he inherited the company founded by his father in the oil industry, which would become Essor Standard in 1952. Passionate about art, he invested a lot of his time and money in museums and artists of his time and more particularly Auguste Rodin, with whom he maintained a lasting friendship. He commissioned a series of bathers to decorate the indoor swimming pool of his residence in Neuilly and the bust of his wife. The Rodin Museum now holds a significant part of his collection.