Description:

Bartholdi Frederic

1pp Tiffany & Co. 16-line personalized printed invitation to the October 28, 1886 inauguration ceremony of the Statue of Liberty on Bedloe's Island in New York Harbor. The heavy cream stock invitation has a gilt embossed wreath with crossed U.S. and French flags at top. At left, the Statue of Liberty is adorned by a Neo-Classical vignette of U.S. and French shields with a Phrygian cap. In very good condition with light isolated grime recto and three tiny pin holes. Light glue residue verso suggests card was once mounted in scrapbook. Invitation measures 7" x 5.5".

Rarer personalized invitation belonging to someone who attended the ceremony. The presence of the invitee's printed name on the invitation grants less space between the gold emblem at top and the first line.

Franco-American Union American Committee officers William M. Evarts (Chairman), Richard Butler (Secretary), Henry F. Spaulding (Treasurer) and five other committee officers invited "Monsieur Georges A. Glaenzer" to attend "the inauguration by the President of United States, of the Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World, on Bedloe’s Island, New York Harbor, on Thursday, October 28th, 1886.”

After ticker-tape and nautical parades, 24th U.S. President Grover Cleveland (1837-1908), along with dozens of dignitaries including "John M. Schofield, Major General of the U.S. Army Commanding, Division of the Atlantic," attended the actual dedication ceremony on Bedloe’s Island in New York Harbor.



Statue of Liberty sculptor Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi (1834-1904) studied painting, sculpture, and architecture under well-known instructors like Viollet-le-Duc in Paris. Following his service in the Franco-Prussian War, Bartholdi became increasingly interested in sculpting monumental works celebrating resistance against oppression, and Enlightenment ideals like Freedom. Bartholdi later conceived of the design of the “Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World.” The fundraising phase of this process would take years, and indeed long surpass the actual 100th anniversary of the United States. Yet once it was installed in 1886, the massive 151-ft tall copper-clad sculpture of a standing woman would fundamentally change the cityscape.

Invitee and French expatriate Georges Auguste Glaenzer (1848-1915) was a member of the French Commission to the Centennial, and Secretary of the French Committee of the Franco-American Union. This Franco-Prussian War veteran transferred his interior decorating business to the United States in 1880, where he beautified the homes of affluent New Yorkers like the Vanderbilts. He was also a friend of Bartholdi's and the son-in-law of Secretary of the American Committee Richard Butler (see below).

Chairman of the American Committee William M. Evarts (1818-1901) directed American fundraising efforts between 1877 and 1886, when Bartholdi's statue was finally inaugurated. Evarts was instrumental in urging Congress to accept France's offer of the statue in 1877, and in passing a bill that allocated funds for pedestal construction.



Secretary of the American Committee Richard Butler (1831-1902) was a rubber manufacturing magnate with a deep interest in art. Butler was a founding trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. 



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