Comment on Antagelig marts 1797
The short Italian text is probably written in Thorvaldsen’s hand. His knowledge of Italian, however, makes the meaning of the last sentence unclear. Thorvaldsen may have misunderstood the preposition “a”, but a possible reading might be: “…Ecco, me a te, [ma] dentro no”, which might be translated :
You play the flirt
look – me at you, but within no
The conjugation of furbanella makes it clear that these lines are meant for a woman, and there is little doubt that the contents are of a sexual nature. The sexual play between sender and recipient is quite sophisticated: The woman is not a flirt but only pretends to be. They may play with each other but apparently only within certain limits (“…within no …”).
Has Thorvaldsen copied these lines in order to have them ready for a suitable occasion?
It is not known who was the object of the sculptor’s flirtation, but it might have been Anna Maria Uhden already so early in Thorvaldsen’s stay in Rome, see the comment on section 1 of the text.
Last updated 24.08.2017