Philippe Reibelt to Thomas Jefferson, 11 June 1805
From Philippe Reibelt
Baltimore le 11 Juin 1805.
Monsieur le President!
De la, que Vous m’avez renvoyè en hyver la grande Gravure de Berlin dans le Style Monarchique et Guerrier, de la je ne puis point conclure encore, que Vous n’aimez pas non plus celui Champêtre de l’aimable Gessner—j’ose même en tirer une Consequence Contraire—et c’est dans cette supposition, au moins pas impropre—que je prend la libertè, de Vous presenter cijoint en humble offrande un Exemple de ce dernier Genre (Le Chêne de Palémon) executè par un des princip. Artistes Germaniques (Kolb) en Vous priant, de vouloir bien accepter graçieusement, aussi bien que les affirmations reiterées de mon intime respect.
Reibelt
Editors’ Translation
Baltimore, 11 June 1805
Mister President!
Although in the winter you returned the large print from Berlin done in a royal and militaristic style, I do not take that to mean you would not like the pastoral style of the charming Gessner. In fact, I dare conclude the opposite. Since this assumption is not inappropriate, I take the liberty of enclosing this humble offering, an example of the latter genre, The Oak Tree of Palémon by one of the leading German artists, Kolb. I beg you to accept it graciously, along with this renewed expression of my deep respect.
Reibelt
RC (DLC); endorsed by TJ as received 12 June and so recorded in SJL.
la grande Gravure: in January, Reibelt sent an engraving of Frederick the Great, which TJ returned (Reibelt to TJ, 3 Jan.; TJ to Reibelt, 9 Jan.).
The pastoral artist and poet Salomon Gessner was a major influence on German artist Carl Wilhelm Kolbe (Kolb), who may have created a print based on one of Gessner’s idylls, in which a narrator extolls a particular oak tree (Colin J. Bailey, “Kolbe,” Print Quarterly, 27 [2010], 448-9; Oeuvres complettes de Gessner, 3 vols. [Orléans, 1783], 3:12).