During the years 2013-2021 selected written primary sources that illuminate Bertel Thorvaldsen’s work, and published at this site, will be examined thoroughly.
Between 2006 and 2011 more than 8000 documents from, to and about Bertel Thorvaldsen have been edited and published on this platform. The publication encompasses letters and documents in Bertel Thorvaldsen’s archives in Thorvaldsens Museum and also documents relating to Thorvaldsen that have been preserved in other archives. During this period, a close scrutiny of the source material was begun, including the addition of explanatory commentaries to the individual documents, subject headings, etc.
A large amount of documents at Thorvaldsens Museum have been transcribed during 2010-2011 by the following:
See also the How to Use the Archives and the article on The History of the Archives for further details on the contents of the database, the early history of the project and earlier contributors. See also under Acknowledgements for details of support for the project by other persons. On the copyright for the texts in the Archives and conditions for quoting from them, see Copyright.
Numerous persons have contributed to collecting, registering, transcribing, commenting etc. at some earlier stage. The work kan be divided into three main periods:
The contributor’s possible relation to Thorvaldsens Museum (THM) is indicated after the contributors’ name.
| Contributors prior to 1932 | ||
| Contributor | Period | Contribution |
| J.M. Thiele, author | 1826-1874 | Collection of materials, the discovery of a large number of letters in Rome, sorting and marking of letters with serial numbers and dates, transcription, personal and art-historical comments, indexes |
| Andreas Christian Schumacher, pattern maker custodian in THM 1896-1919 |
1896-1919 | Arranging the documents in folders, index of letters and card index |
| Peter Johansen, art historian | 1897-1899 | Drawing up of chronological list of the contents of the physicial archives then |
| Andreas Røder, art historian, acting curator at THM 1915-1916 |
1897-1899 | Assistant to Peter Johansen in drawing up the chronological list of the contents of the archives then |
| L. Laursen, archive secretary | 1899 | Assistant to Peter Johansen in drawing up the chronological list of the contents of the archives then |
| Mario Krohn, art historian, director of THM 1916-1921 | 1916-1921 | Contribution includes reading through memoirs etc. in search of references to Thorvaldsen, collecting materials relevant to Thorvaldsen’s reception in his own time, establishing a card index with huge numbers of notes on everything concerning Thorvaldsen’s life and work |
| Emil Hannover, art historian | Ca. 1916-1921 | Presumably assisting Mario Krohn in establishing card index of Thorvaldsen literature |
| D.E. Ruggaard, philologist | 1922 | Transcription of Thorvaldsen’s diary from 1797 |
| Vilhelm Marstrand, engineer | 1923 | Fair copy of the above |
| Contributors to the earlier publication project 1937-1963 | ||
| Contributor | Period | Contribution |
| Sigurd Schultz, art historian director of THM 1932-1963 |
1932-1963 | Initiator of the project |
| Louis Bobé, historiographer of the orders of chivalry | 1937 | Co-initiator of the project |
| Torben Juel, university student of art history, student assistant at THM 1935-1936 |
ca. 1935-1937 | Transcription and translation |
| Else Kai Sass, art historian, student assistant 1937-1945 and curator in THM 1945-1954 |
1937-1954 | Extensive art-historical commentaries |
| Øjvind Andreasen, philologist | 1937-1956 | Collection of materials, extensive transcription, biographical commentaries, registers |
| Meir Stein, art historian | 1939-1943, 1945 og 1954-1956 | Art-historical commentaries |
| Ingeborg Stemann, lecturer | 1952 | Translation of Polish literature concerning Thorvaldsen |
| Romana Heltberg, lecturer | 1952 | Translation of Polish literature concerning Thorvaldsen |
| Dyveke Helsted, art historian, curator in THM, 1963-1989, director of THM | 1954-1974 | Art-historical commentaries |
| Preparatory work for the present project 1996-2006 | ||
| Contributor | Period | Contribution |
| Stig Miss, art historian, director of THM, 1989- | 1996 ff. | Responsible for the project |
| Jens Keld, philologist | 1996-2001 | Collection of material, transcription and collation of over 4000 letters, biographical commentaries, registers |
| Margrethe Floryan, art historian, curator in THM 1995 ff. | 1996-2004 | Collection of material from European and American archives, preliminary examination of Russian correspondence |
| Margherita Merello Thomsen | 1999 | Transcription of parts of the Italian correspondence in the Archives in collaboration with Jens Keld |
| Salvatore Brogaard, art teacher | 2001 | Adviser on parts of the Italian correspondence in the Archives in collaboration with Jens Keld |
| Jørgen Korsgaard-Pedersen, ambassador | 2001 | Adviser on parts of the French correspondence in the Archives in collaboration with Jens Keld |
| Ernst Jonas Bencard, art historian, senior research fellow in THM | 2004-2019 | Preliminary examination of the earliest, mainly Danish correspondence, fundraising, project leader from 2006 onwards |
Translation by Glyn Jones
Last updated 04.08.2020