These scandalous letters were secretly kept in the library of the Franche-Comté town since the beginning of the 20th century. They will be published in full next year.
franceinfo – with France Bleu Besançon
Radio France
Published on 27/11/2024 14:07
Reading time: 2min
Part of the erotic correspondence of the famous painter Gustave Courbet was discovered by chance last year in the attic of the Besançon library, France Bleu Besançon learned from the City on Wednesday, November 27. These are 116 letters exchanged between November 1872 and May 1873 between the Franche-Comté painter and one of his mistresses, Mathilde Carly de Svazzema. Due to their erotic content, these hundred letters were kept in the library in the greatest secrecy since the beginning of the 20th century.
In November 2023, Agnès Barthelet, conservation assistant at the municipal library, discovered these letters on a shelf in the attic, while she was looking for “bindings of drawings by Pierre-Adrien Paris to put them online”. She confides having been “intrigued” seeing on a pile of documents a “National Assembly letterhead” and still remembers “somewhat scabrous content” of these letters. The correspondence is then officially authenticated, thanks to meticulous work.
The mayor of Besançon Anne Vignot greets a “incredible discovery”, “major”. She explains that these letters “reveal an intimate and fascinating aspect” by Gustave Courbet, perhaps thus allowing “to better understand the man and the painter”, one of whose best-known works, and which still causes scandal, is The Origin of the World. “We are preparing a full publication of these letters and an exhibition next year which will end during Heritage Days”specifies the city councilor.
This selection of this correspondence will be presented at the municipal library from March 21 to September 21, 2025 as part of the exhibition “Courbet, hidden letters, History of a found treasure”. These original digitized letters are also posted online on the memoirevive site, digital heritage of Besançon.
