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(title etc) xtra copy personal (draft)

Dear Miss Davis;

Mr. Ronald Freyberger has applied to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation for a grant.  It gives me much pleasure to write you on his behalf, and may I ask you to consider these lines as a letter of recomendation  towards this application.  I consider him worthy indeed of such a gesture.  I have known Mr. Freyberger since 1966, and in fact, under interesting circumstances, which even then showed his knowledge of the work of a French 18th century artist Jean-Claude Duplessis (d. 1774).  We had acquired, for our private collection, a pair of small bronzes, which he was at once able to attribute, correctly, to this artist, who played an important role in decorative arts in France, not only as a designer, but also as a prolific artist in the French decorative achievements of that period.  It is this artist, who was also a goldsmith and sculptor, [[strikethrough]] [[?]] [[/strikethrough]] working in precious metals, porcelain, bronze and hard stones, that he intends as topic for his dissertation.  From the many converstaions I have had with Mr. Freyberger in the last few years, here and in Paris, I have realized how truly devoted he is to the whole development of French 18th century decorative arts and this can be further established by the number of articles he has already published.  It is my opinion that at a time when so many facets of French 18th century decorative arts still need a great deal more study that Mr. Freyberger would no doubt, by his scholarly approach to these problems, and, I would gladly add, the love he shows for works of art of that period, make a significant contribution