Eiffel Tower

Léon-Charles Libonis (French, 1846–1901)

1889

Medium/TechniqueLithograph on card stock

DimensionsHorizontal: Overall: 8.9 x 14 cm (3 1/2 x 5 1/2 in.)

Credit LineLeonard A. Lauder Postcard Archive—Gift of Leonard A. Lauder

Accession number2012.9436

On View

Not on view

ClassificationsPostcards

Collections

Description

From the top of the EiffelTower,300 meters high, I send my best kisses to my pretty Rosa, to my pretty Renée, and to my dear little Raphaël.

V. Meyret

Monsieur Meyret sent his postcard on August 2, 1889, when the Eiffel Tower was brand new—built for the year’s great Universal Exposition. The exposition drew nearly 30 million visitors, and the tower was intended to dazzle people with the brilliance of French engineering, draw them up to have look and buy some souvenirs—and maybe send a postcard from the top.

InscriptionsYes

ProvenanceBetween 1950 and 2011, acquired by Leonard A. Lauder, New York, from various postcard dealers in the United States, Canada and Europe; 2012, gift of Leonard A. Lauder to the MFA. (Accession Date: February 27, 2012)