Bertel Thorvaldsen
København
Frederik 6.
København
Ingen udskrift, da der er tale om Thorvaldsens kopi af brevet.
Dateringen fremgår af brevet.
Thorvaldsen suggests a drastic restructuring and relocation of the Royal Collection of Paintings, the Royal Cabinet of Curiosities, the Royal Library, and the Royal Academy of Art’s collection of plaster casts of antiques and of Thorvaldsen’s works. Among other things, this will include moving the Botanical Gardens and confiscating the buildings and premises.
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Til Kongen!
Den Opmærksomhed og den huldrige Forsorg D.M.I allernaadigst yder Kunsten i Fædrelandet, og den særdeles Velvillie hvormed ForslagII til dens Fremskridt og almindelige Udbredelse, optages, giver mig Haab om at et Forslag jeg til dette Øiemed allerunderdanigst her vil udvikle, maatte vinde D Majestæts allernaadigste Biefald.
Den herlige Samling af Malerier som D.M. er i Besiddelse af og som nu er adspredt paa de Kongl. SlotteIII og her i Galleriet ved KunstkamretIV, maatte med skiønsomt Valg forenet, udgiøre noget fuldstændigtV. Man har hidtil savnet et passende Locale til et saadant Malergallerie.
KunstacademietVI som D.M. har givet umiskiendelige Beviser paa Deres Kongl. Naade, savner og Plads til Udvidelse af sin Statue Samling, som det nu er i Begreb med at forøge med Afstøbninger af nyere fundne græske AntikkeVII og af mine i Rom udførte ArbeiderVIII.
Mit allerunderdanigste Forslag har saaledes til Hensigt at see disse Savn for Malergalleriet og for Kunstacademiet afhiulpne.
Særdeles ønskeligt for Kunstacademiet vilde det være at det Kongl. Malergallerie sattes dermed i nøie Forbindelse. En saadan Forening gav og Malerie Samlingen en høiere Betydning til gavnlig Veiledning for Academiets Kunstnere og kunde selv give Anledning til almindeligere udbredt KunstSandsIX ved at sætte Galleriet i Forbindelse med Academiets UdstillingerX til frie Anskuelse for Publicum.
En lykkelig Omstændighed synes at begunstige denne Forening.
Den botaniske Haves BestyrereXI maatte intet hellere ønske end at kunde anvises et andet LocaleXII til AnlæggetXIII, da det nærværende, efter Vedkommendes Yttring, er meget indskrænket og her ikke er nogen Udvidelse at vente, som dog kunde fordres for at holde Skridt med Videnskabens Fremskridt – især mangles et ArborêtXIV.
Naar Saaledes det LocaleXV som den botaniske Have nu indtager, der i sin Tid tilhørte Charlottenborg, kunde anvises til Kunstgallerier i Forbindelse med Kunstacademiet, hvorved og et Museum kunde erstattes som efter Forlydende var paatænkt indrettet i RuderaXVI af Christiansborg Slots Udbygninger der nu ere nedbrudte vilde det herligste Resultat af denne Forening kunne ventes, uden synderlig Bekostning for Malergalleriet, da den botaniske Haves Bygning mod NyehavnXVII med nogen Forandring dertil kunde anvendes og saaledes den Anstand tilveiebringes, som D.M. ved Deres huldrige Omsorg for Kunsten har til Øiemed, til Hæder for Majestæten og Nationen.
Endnu et Savn vil ved denne Foranstaltning afhielpes.
D. Majestæts udmærkede BibliothekXVIII fordrer ligeledes efter hvad jeg har fornummetXIX en Udvidelse hvortil den beste Leilighed gives naar Malergalleriet flyttes og denne Plads indrømmes Bibliotheket. Ligesom og endmere Plads vilde vindes naar en Indskrænkning i Kunstkammer Beholdningen fandt Sted, der sikkert maatte være ønskeligt for at skille de Sager som fra Kunst og Alderdoms Side have sand Interesse, fra en stor Deel uvæsentlige Sager, der nedsætte Samlingens Værd, og egentligen ikke høre derhen.
Paa den botaniske Haves Flytning beroer altsaa ikke alene dens eget Tarv, men og Kunstacademiets – det Kongl. Malergalleries – og det Kongl. Bibliotheks væsentlige Interesse.
Dersom det nye Anlæg af en botanisk Have kunde sættes i Forbindelse med den offentlige Promenade som paa flere fremmede Steder er Tilfældet, f. Ex. Jardin des plantes i ParisXX, vilde dette udentvivl være ønskeligst og beqvemmest. Dog ligger videre Forslag desangaaende udenfor min Competance.
Jeg overlader Sagen allerunderdanigst til Deres Majestæts allernaadigste Prøvelse. Jeg har anseet det min Pligt at udtale mine Følelser for D.M. om hvad jeg i denne Henseende efter Overbevisning, i min Kunstner Synskreds ansaae gavnligt for mit Fædreland.
Khavn 20 April 1820 –
allerunderdanigst
Thorwaldsen
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To the King!
The attention and the very kind care Y.M. graciously gives art in our native country and the exceeding kindness with which suggestions for its progress and general extension are met, gives me the hope that a proposal to this purpose I most humbly will explain here might meet with Y. Majesty’s gracious approval.
The magnificent collection of paintings in Y.M.’s possession which are now scattered at the royal palaces and here in the gallery at the cabinet of curiosities, might with a united judicious selection constitute something complete. So far suitable premises have been wanting for such a gallery.
The Royal Academy of Fine Arts which Y.M. has given unmistakable proofs of your Royal Favour also wants room for extension of its collection of statues, which it is about to augment with casts of recently discovered Greek antique works and of mine executed in Rome.
My most humble proposal thus intends to meet these wants of the gallery as well of the Academy of Fine Arts.
It would be particularly desirable to the Academy of Fine Arts to be closely connected with the Royal Gallery. Such a union would also give the collection of paintings greater importance for useful guidance of the artists of the Academy of Fine Arts and might in itself result in a more widespread artistic taste by connecting the Gallery to the exhibitions of the Academy for free viewing by the public.
A fortunate fact seems to favour this union.
The managers of the botanical gardens might wish for nothing better than being assigned new premises for the gardens as according to the observations by the persons concerned the existing ones are rather limited and no extension can be expected, which surely might be claimed to keep up with the progress of science – especially an arboretum is wanted.
When the premises which the botanical gardens now occupy, which formerly belonged to Charlottenborg, could be assigned to art galleries in connection with the Academy of Fine Arts, by which also a museum might be replaced which according to report was projected to be established in remains of the annexes of Christiansborg Palace which are now destroyed, the most glorious result of this union could be expected without great expense for the gallery, as the building of the botanical gardens towards Nyhavn could be used for it with some changes and thus the dignity could be obtained which Y.M. by your kind care for art purposes, in honour of His Majesty as well as the nation.
Another want will be met by this arrangement.
Your Majesty’s excellent library also demands an extension, from what I have learnt, for which the best occasion will arise when the gallery is moved and this place is given to the library. Just as still more space would be gained if a reduction of the contents of the cabinet of curiosities took place, when it would surely be required to separate the things which from the point of view of art and age are of real interest from a great many unimportant things, which lower the value of the collection and after all do not belong there.
Not only its own interests depend on the removal of the botanical gardens but also the essential interests of the Royal Academy of Fine Art – the Royal Gallery and the Royal Library.
If the new construction of the botanical gardens could be connected with the public promenade as is the case in several foreign places e.g. Jardin des plantes in Paris, this would no doubt be most desirable and most convenient. However, further proposals on that subject are outside my competence.
I most humbly leave this matter to Your Majesty’s most gracious scrutiny. I have considered it to be my duty to express my feelings to Y.M. about what in this respect from conviction of my artistic mind I regarded beneficial to my native land.
Copenhagen, April 20th 1820
Most humbly,
Thorwaldsen
[Translated by Karen Husum]
Read more about the matter in the article A Proposal to the King.
Peder Malling
Last updated 25.04.2017
I.e. Your Majesty, Frederik 6.
Thorvaldsen had been invited to make proposals for improvements of the Academy of Fine Arts, cf. letter dated 8.11.1819 from Christian (8.) Frederik to C.F. Hansen:
p((.“I also think it highly desirable that you and Thorvaldsen with your experience, one as a teacher of long standing, the other as professor at a foreign academy and himself an artist in the capital of art could suggest various improvements of the academy, and for the present I have asked the King, to whom I have recommended the artistic community, to lend a willing ear to what you together with the director might advance for the benefit of the academy.“
Possibly the following castles:
I.e. the Royal Collection of Paintings on the second floor of the building of the Cabinet of Curiosities (today the National Archive) between the Royal Arsenal and the Supplies Building on Slotsholmen, Copenhagen.
The all-embracing Cabinet of Curiosities was dissolved in 1825 and the contents distributed to the newly established specialized museums for art, culture, and natural science. The collection of paintings was moved to Christiansborg Palace and opened in 1827; after the palace fire in 1884, it was moved to the National Gallery of Denmark.
I.e. The Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen.
See a catalogue of the academy present collection of plaster casts after antique works in Pontus Kjerrman, Bjørn Nørgaard, Jan Zahle, Jens Bertelsen (eds): Spejlinger i gips, Copenhagen 2004.
See the catalogue of the plaster casts after Thorvaldsen’s works in the academy in the article Commission for the Academy of Fine Arts, Copenhagen.
In the charter of the Academy of Fine Arts dated 1814, issued by Frederik 6., §4 says that ”The Academy [is] to be regarded partly as a school of art to educate artists and partly as an art society to propagate appreciation of art.”
Thorvaldsen’s argument that a union of the King’s collection of paintings and the sculpture collection of the academy would benefit the education of the students of the academy and the enlightenment of the public, is quite a stroke of genius: Thorvaldsen actually suggests a liberalization, in which the King is to give his collection of paintings to the people, but he makes it sound unproblematic as if it is just in agreement with the charter, or what the King himself wants.
I.e. the annual exhibition of the Academy of Fine Arts, which lasted a week and was open to “all and sundry”, cf. the article Academy of Fine Arts, Copenhagen, Exhibitions.
The Danish botanist J.F. Hornemann (1770-1841), who was the director of the Botanical Gardens 1817-1841.
Dvs. lokale i betydningen sted, lokalitet, jf. Ordbog over det danske Sprog, lokale #1.
I.e. the Botanical Gardens, which at that time were behind Charlottenborg.
An arboterum is a garden for forest botany that primarily contains collections of woody plants, i.e. trees and bushes of various species.
I.e. the reading room of the Botanical Gardens, in the room which today is called “Portikken”, under the domed hall at Charlottenborg, next to Thorvaldsen’s residence, cf. the article Thorvaldsen’s Residence, Studio and Museum at the Academy of Fine Arts, Copenhagen.
Dvs. rester, ruiner, jf. Ordbog over det danske Sprog, rudera.
I.e. the main building of the Botanical Gardens, which faced Nyhavn and a.o. housed the residence of the director of the garden.
I.e. the Royal Library on the first floor of the building of the Cabinet of Curiosities (today the National Archive) between the Royal Arsenal and the Supplies Building on Slotsholmen, Copenhagen.
Thorvaldsen might have talked about the space problems of the Royal Library with its director D.G. Moldenhawer (1753-1823) or his first secretary and later successor, the historian E.C. Werlauff (1781-1871).
The largest botanical gardens in France, Jardin des Plantes, in Paris, which, after having been known as “the King’s Garden”, le Jardin du Roi, was opened to the public in 1634.