"At the
Café de la Régence, Paul Morphy repeated the blindfold feat performed in
Birmingham. The eight simultaneous games lasted ten hours, and he conquered,
although unwell and weak at the time. One of his eight opponents was the famous
sculptor Lequesne, who shortly after made his bust, a chef-l'oeuvre which was
placed at the Café de la Régence and crowned with laurel, on his farewell
visit there."
-from one who
knew him well.
"It
is not necessary to point out to chess players the immensity of this
intellectual feat; every one will admit that it borders upon the miraculous,
and, as was remarked by one of the antagonists, M. Lequesne, such a mind never
did exist, and, perhaps, never will again."
- Lawson
"When he
returned from his first visit to Paris, he brought back to his mother a copy of
his bust - by the great sculptor Lequesne. It was proudly placed by her in her
sanctum. That copy, smaller than the original bust, also came from the hands of
Lequesne who presented it to Mr. Morphy, as a token of friendship and
admiration."
-from one who knew him well.
"Among the first
to recognize Morphy’s significance in the chess arena was Eugene Lequesne, the
well-known sculptor. Morphy had been in France less than two weeks when
Lequesne asked him to sit for his bust in marble. Morphy obliged with the first
sitting on September 15. The bust was exhibited as the Exposition des Beaux
Arts in 1859. Maurian mentions in the New Orleans Sunday Delta of February 6,
1859, that small replicas (three-fifths the actual size) had arrived in New
Orleans by January 1859, and described the bust as “a perfect likeness.” It
received special attention the day before Morphy left Paris some months later.
Lequesne also took a plaster cast of Morphy’s hand, now possessed by the author"
- Lawson
"M. Lequesne, the
sculptor, has executed in marble a very fine bust of Mr. Morphy, which has been
placed along side of those of Labourdonnais and Philidor, at the chess club over
Café de La Régence. Small duplicates of this are on sale about town."
-from Dr. Johnson, Paris correspondent of the New
York Times
"In
Paris, on April 4, 1859, at a farewell banquet for him, it was St. Amant who
placed a laurel wreath upon the marble bust of Morphy by the sculptor Eugene
Lequesne." - Lawson
