Henry de TRIQUETI (1803-1874) Design for the "Yates memorial" with two allegorical figures: Nobility and Justice Pen and black ink, watercolor over black pencil lines and white gouache highlights 28 x 24cm Central part on tracing paper affixed to the decor Captioned top and bottom "Virtue the only nobility/Justice the only truth" Annotated center "Science/Charity" and bottom right "Ier projet du Yates memorial university college Hospital". Our drawing is a preparation for the commemorative plaque for the Yates memorial in London, made entirely of marble in 1864. Provenance: Château du Perthuis. Note: In 1870, Charles Hare, professor of medicine, commissioned a panel from Triqueti for the Yates Memorial presented at London's University College Hospital in honor of benefactor Edward Yates. The tarsia technique was again employed, almost entirely in white Carrara marble. The primacy of drawing was not an empty word for Triqueti, who subordinated all the arts he practiced to it. Sculptor, painter, writer and artistic advisor to the Duc d'Aumale, Triqueti is also known in the world of old drawings as a famous collector of drawings and engravings. Through his wife, he inherited the important collection of Thomas Banks (also a sculptor and collector), which included many drawings by Renaissance masters. A regular visitor to the Hôtel Drouot, Triqueti rubbed shoulders with a circle of illustrious collectors and curators such as His de La Salle (1795-1878) and Frédéric Reiset (1815-1891). Triqueti took his first steps as an artist under the aegis of Anne-Louis Girodet-Trioson, a family friend and neighbor. Triqueti demonstrated a perfect mastery of the art of drawing. He deploys every facet of drawing, depending on its purpose or the work's destination. Extremely precise in his drawings and copies, he uses a finely-sharpened pencil. He scratches with a feather in his search for compositions and decorations, multiplying variants and options. He can be powerful in his contours, in a Géricaldian vein, or content himself with a fine, thin line for his ornamental subjects. He sometimes drew in sanguine, particularly for academic studies and portraits. His highly finished watercolors are absolutely limpid and distant, imitating to perfection the rendering he aims to achieve in his "tarsia".