The manuscript is Wagnière’s hand, addressed to Marie Thérèse de Larlan de Kercadio, la comtesse de Rochefort.
Detailed Summary:
The manuscript is a quatrain dedicated to Mme la Comtesse de Rochefort, diminishing the prominence of the god Mercury in favour of his voisine. There is no trace of correspondence between Voltaire and Marie Thérèse de Larlan de Kercadio, Comtesse de Rochefort. However, she appears as the Baroness de Croupillac in L’Enfant prodigue.
The manuscript is bound with other documents in contemporary red morocco.
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History
Date:
Ownership:
After Voltaire’s death, the MS passed into the ownership of Catherine II and remained in the imperial and then national collection thereafter.
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Provenance:
This MS was probably taken to St Petersburg by Wagnière in the summer of 1779 along with the rest of Voltaire’s library.
Bibliography
Bibliography:
Fernand Caussy, Inventaire des manuscrits de la bibliothèque de Voltaire conservée à la bibliothèque impériale publique de Saint-Pétersbourg (Geneva, Slatkine reprints, 1970)