Bertel Thorvaldsen
Rom
Gotskalk Thorvaldsen
København
Thiele I, p. 175 daterer brevudkastet til 1802. Denne datering fastholdes, se nærmere herom i note til brudstykke af et andet brevudkast, sandsynligvis til Jørgen West, som optræder på den anden side af samme stykke papir som dette.
Thorvaldsen begs his father to send him a letter as he is longing for news from Copenhagen. He expects to leave Rome for Denmark soon and is looking forward to the reunion with his parents. He hopes that C.F.F. Stanley will take over his rooms when he arrives in Rome.
| Gode Fader! | Sede samI[?] | Rom d. 22 Aprl |
Jeg har med megen lengsel vendet efter brevII fra Dem men for geves. bivis mig dog den godhed at tilskrive mig strax efter De har bekommet dette brev, og lad mig vide hvodledes det gaaer Dem og min ModerIII. tillige alle gode Venner, De kan let forstile Dem hvor kert det maa værre mig at faae nogen Efterretning fra mine foreldre og mit fødeland hvor der er saa meget der kan fornøe mig at hiøre. lad mig see at De skriver mig ofte til i den kortte TiidIV ieg er her da det nu nermer seg den Glade Dag at ieg skal omarme mine gode foreldre gud hvilken glæde det vel værre for DerreV. ieg har hiørt at Hr StangelyeVI har vunden Reise stipendiium som glæder mig[,] ieg øn[s]ker at naar han kommer hertil Rom vilde tage met LogieVII som han vel værre vel tient [med] da det er en over maade brav [...]VIII
| Good Father! | Sede sam [?] | Rome, April 22nd |
I have very anxiously expected a letter from you, but in vain, do render me the kindness to write to me immediately when you have received this letter and let me know how you and mother are getting on, as well as all good friends. You may easily imagine how glad I should be to receive some information about my parents and my native land, where there is so much that it may please me to hear about. Please write to me often during the short period of time I am here as the happy day is approaching when I shall embrace my good parents, good Lord what joy it will be to your son. I have heard that Mr Stanley has been awarded a travelling scholarship which pleases me, I wish when he comes here to Rome he will take my lodgings which he certainly won’t regret as it is an extremely respectable [...]
[Translated by Karen Husum]
Thiele I, p. 174 is not sure whether this draft was ever finished and sent off.
The draft is on one side of a piece of paper with another draft, probably to Jørgen West, on the other.
Last updated 04.02.2015
Incomprehensible. The interpretation of the words may not be correct. It may even be one word.
The remark seems to have been added in the middle of the top line after the draft had been finished, possibly to remind Thorvaldsen that a completed letter had been sent?
The last known letter from father to son is dated 4.10.1801.
Thorvaldsen’s mother, Karen Thorvaldsen.
As late as the spring of 1800, Thorvaldsen was still planning to return to Denmark the coming summer as his six-year-long travelling scholarship from the Academy of Fine Arts ran out 1.7.1802.
See the Thorvaldsen Chronology.
Dvs. Deres, underforstået Søn.
Jf. betydning E af de i Ordbog over det danske Sprog.
In the autumn of 1800, Thorvaldsen’s good friend, the Danish architect C.F.F. Stanley won a competition with four architects for the large travelling scholarship of the Academy of Fine Arts , see e.g. letter of 21.7.1800 from Abildgaard to Thorvaldsen.
1800-1804 Thorvaldsen lived at no 141, second floor, in via Sistina (then called via Felice), see Thorvaldsen’s Residences.
The landlady’s name was Orsola Polverini Narlinghi. 1801-03 he lived here with the German painter J.A. Koch, cf. Thiele I, p. 164.
Here the draft ends abruptly. According to Thiele I, p. 175, the continuation was about Thorvaldsen’s landlady Orsola Polverini Narlinghi.