We consider the pure traction problem and the pure displacement problem of three-dimensional linearized elasticity. We show that, in each case, the intrinsic approach leads to a quadratic minimization problem constrained by Donati-like relations. Using the Babuška-Brezzi inf-sup condition, we then show that, in each case, the minimizer of the constrained minimization problem found in an intrinsic approach is the first argument of the saddle-point of an ad hoc Lagrangian, so that the second argument of this saddle-point is the Lagrange multiplier associated with the corresponding constraints.