Comment on 11.8.1804

Such a request was not unusual at the time, thus Anna Maria Uhden requested some red goatskin and a pair of English scissors during Thorvaldsen’s travels in 1804 and 1805, see letters dated “3.7.1804”:/dokumenter/m11804,nr.14, 7.9.1805 and 30.8.1805, while Maria Zoëga asked Thorvaldsen to bring home two tortoiseshell combs from Naples, cf. letter dated 20.4.1804. The following year, Lund requested a pound of the very best tea from Leghorn because Roman tea, according to him, was only “second-rate”, cf. letter dated 31.8.1805. Requests of this kind were often made when people wanted a particular local commodity, a better quality, or a better price.

Last updated 04.12.2017