Description

Autograph letter signed by Delphine Ingres, née Ramel, last wife of Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, addressed to the professor and writer Charles Ernest Beulé (1826-1874) who was the author in 1867 of In Praise of Ingres. Letter written on mourning paper, the painter's death took place on January 14, 1867.

"May 6, 1867,
Sir, although quite unworthy of the mission you entrusted me with, I was happy enough to join an enthusiastic defender of the science you want to support; it is Mr. Jules Lacroix, translator of Persia and Juvenal and others, who, besides being a Hellenist in heart and soul! It was therefore with great eagerness that he welcomed your proposal, putting the right condition on it, to see his name inscribed among those of the subscribers, which I thought I could assure him of.
He promised me other subscribers and has to send me their names and addresses.
I am pleased, Sir, that my feeble intervention may have been of some use to you, giving me also the opportunity to make real champions of science.
Please receive, Sir, the expression of my very affectionate feelings and please assure you of them too, Mrs Beulé.
D.Ingres."