Annecy's statue of Claude-Louis Berthollet resulted from the initiative of a mining engineer called Despines, who, in July 1840 contacted two friends Bonafous and Matthieu. These three formed a central committee in Turin, and the whole project received the sanction of Carlo Alberto of Savoy on 4 Aug. 1840. A subscription committee was opened on 25 Aug. The commitee initially approached the sculptor, Pierre-Jean David (known as David d'Angers), who had included Berthollet amongst the figures in his pediment for the Panthéon. David showed interest in the project, but Bonafous, who was a friend of Carlo Marochetti, in May 1842 persuaded the committee to choose him instead. The subscription was actively promoted in Paris as well as in Savoy. Whilst Marochetti's original project included a piece of fabric, held in Berthollet's hand, and a tripod, he was persuaded to include a chemical instrument. He finally chose a laboratory furnace and books as accessories to his main figure. Carlo Alberto recommended that Berthollet should be shown in the official costume of a Member of the Institut, but Marochetti preferred to show him in everyday attire. The subscription was disappointing, but Marochetti agreed to charge nothing for his artistic input into the project.The clay model was completed in 1843, and the statue was inaugurated on the Promenade du Pâquier on 25 Aug. 1844. Marochetti was unable to attnd the event, as he was in Glasgow, for the inauguration of his equestrian statue of the Duke of Wellington. In 1863, the statue was moved to the public gardens, and given a new pedestal designed by the architect, Henri Poireaux. In 1944, during the German occupation it was taken down, to be ,melted for munitions, but survived and was put back in place on 12 Oct. 1944. The gardns in which it now stands are called the Jardins de l'Europe.