Comment on The country bumpkin and the donkey-rider in the service of art and freedom

The precise address was Via Sistina 141, 2nd floor. Cf. Friedrich Noack, Das Deutschtum in Rom seit dem Ausgang des Mittelalters, vol. 2, Leipzig 1927, p. 594. At the time, however, the street was called “Via Felice” or “Strada Felice.” For further documentation, see the letter dated November 1, 1803 , from Wilhelm von Humboldt to Thorvaldsen, Gemeente Amsterdam, Bibliotheek der Universiteit, Afdeeling: Handschriften, Geschenk van den Heer P. A. Diederichs. No. 7.3 Fp 3. Here the address appears as follows: “Al/ Signor Thorwaldsen, / Scultore Danese / Strada Felice, / il 3za portino / averti la piazza / Barberini.” See also J.M. Thiele, Thorvaldsens Ungdomshistorie. 1770-1804, Copenhagen 1851, p. 164: “… Thorvaldsen seems to have formed the closest bond with Joseph Koch; the two soon moved in together and lived in one of the last houses on the left side in Via Felice, close to Piazza Barberina, where an old and rather elegant Padrona di casa, by the name of Ursula, kept house for them”; see also ibid., p. 175, and Otto R. von Lutterotti, Joseph Anton Koch 1768-1839. Leben und Werk mit einem vollständigen Werkverzeichnis, Vienna and Munich 1985, p. 11 and p. 38.

Last updated 01.08.2018