BERRY (Duchesse de), Marie-Caroline de Bourbon-Siciles (1798-1870).
Correspondence 1842-1866, to Félicie de Fauveau, three stamped envelopes.
14 letters In-12, including 3 A.L.S. and 11 L.S., most with autograph additions.

The sculptor Félicie de Fauveau (1801-1866), a royalist and feminist who was admired by Balzac and Stendhal, frequented the Duchesse de Berry during the Restoration and took part in the latter's attempt in 1832. She then took refuge in Florence, where she lived for the rest of her life. Her work was the subject of an exhibition at the Musée d'Orsay in 2013.

The letters sent are as follows:
A.L.S., Brunsee, 28 June 1842, 2 pages In-12; armorial letterhead of the duchess in colour. Congratulations and thanks for a gift of sculpture: ‘the charming St Genevieve, which I found to have an admirable expression, I have placed in my bedroom so that I will always have it there’. The sculpture is now in the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in the United States.
L.S., Brunsee, 2 January 1854, 1 page In-12 on double sheet; with autograph addition. New Year's greetings.
A.L.S., Brunsee, 20 January 1855, 2 pages In-12. The Duchess gives news of her health, her children and wishes the best to Félicie de Fauveau's brother.
A.L.S., Brunsee, 18 April 1858, 2 pages In-12. Wishes of condolence on the death of the sculptor's mother, to whom the Duchess seemed close.
L.S., Brunsee, 9 October 1858, 2 pages In-12; with autograph addition. Return of condolence greetings of 18 April, hoping ‘that your beloved mother has received the reward for her devotion [...] to the point of martyrdom’.
L.S., Brunsee, 8 September 1860, 2 pages In-12; with autograph addition. The Duchess thanks Félicie de Fauveau for worrying about her problems and is herself concerned to see the sculptress ‘in the midst of all these revolutions, of which, incidentally, part of Europe seems likely to fall victim’ (she is probably referring here to the periods of annexation that will lead to Italian unification).
TL.S., Brunsee, 6 March 1861, 3 pages In-12; with autograph addition. The Duchess gives news of her illness and hopes to see the sculptress again soon.
L.S., Brunsee, 18 April 1861, 2 pages In-12 on double sheet; with autograph addition. The Duchess goes to Switzerland to see her daughter and thanks Félicie de Fauveau ‘for the expressions of devotion [...] that you are taking to my sorrows and the misfortunes that are overwhelming my family’.
L.S., Brunsee, 10 October 1861, 3 pages In-12; with autograph addition. The Duchess tells of having spent two months in Switzerland with the Duchess of Parma and specifies that the Count of Chambord had made a trip to Constantinople and Jerusalem.
L.S., Brunsee, 31 December 1861, 2 pages In-12; with autograph addition. The Duchess sends her best wishes for the New Year and expresses her wish to have been present when Félicie de Fauveau was able to talk to the Princesse d'Arsoli, her daughter.
L.S., Brunsee, 2 January 1863, 3 pages In-12; with autograph addition. The Duchess sends her best wishes for the New Year and asks whether the publication of the illustrated series Galleria d Firenze is continuing.
L.S., Brunsee, 16 March 1864, 1 page In-12 on double sheet; with autograph addition. The Duchess is [very probably] distressed about the health of her second husband Ettore Carlo Lucchesi Palli (without mentioning him): ‘to the new and cruel trial with which Heaven had to overwhelm me’.
L.S., Brunsee, 25 April 1864, 3 pages In-12; with autograph addition. Letter from the daughter of the Duchesse de Berry (signed ‘Francesca Pcsse d'Arsoli’) and Count Lucchesi Palli, on the death of the latter.
L.S., Brunsee, 11 January 1866, 2 pages In-12 on double sheet; with autograph addition. The Duchess returns her wishes for the New Year and is ‘angry that it is through sorrow that you are returning to your homeland’.