DORVAL (Marie). - Lot 86

DORVAL (Marie). Born in Lorient (1798-1849). Famous actress of the Romantic period, closely associated with the poet ALFRED DE VIGNY, and friend of George Sand. L.A.S. "Marie Dorval" to a poet (?). S.l.n.d. [ca. 1841]. 1 page in-8. Stamped Papeterie Chavalier - Bath. BEAUTIFUL DAMITIE LETTER: ...I have been very late in giving you news of what interests you, Sir, but it is that it has been quite impossible for me to reach MR ANTÉNOR JOLY. Her theater is going very badly and leaves her little leisure to occupy herself with other things than her personal embarrassments... She would be delighted to see him again to tell him in person how touched and grateful she is to have let a little of this poetry come to me, of which I have been a widow for so long!...In 1839, MARIE DORVAL made her debut at LA RENAISSANCE, in the newly opened Salle Ventadour, under the direction ofANTÉNOR JOLY, a former typographer, journalist and founder in 1835 of the Théâtre de la Porte-Saint-Antoine, who had obtained from the Orleanist government the privilege of opening a new theater. The actress triumphed in Le Proscrit, a five-act drama by Frédéric Soulié and Timothée Dehay, to which George Sand wrote: "If I were the Grand Turk, I would send you an island in the archipelago, all in bloom, to show you my joy and happiness at the way you played last night". Thanks to this success, Marie Dorval created Cosima at the Comédie-Française, and reprised the role of Kitty Bell in Vigny's Chatterton. The poet, who attended the premiere, said of Marie, from whom he had been separated since 1838, "Her beautiful and unique talent has grown even more, by something more poised, more self-controlled in some scenes, more refined and ingenious in others."