Comment on Ropp's Commission 1804-05
In Ine Līne & Dainis Bruģis: ‘Torvaldsena skulptūras jaunauces pilī’, in: Liecinieki, Tukums 2013, p. 57, it is claimed that the Melpomene bust at the National Museum of Latvia (Latvijas Nacionālā mākslas muzeja) in Riga, inv. no. AMM SK 39 origins from the Roop family. This bust should then allegedly be one of the missing Thorvaldsen copies.
However, this is not correct, as comparisons between the present b/w photo from 1927 of Thorvaldsen’s Melpomene and the copy in Riga clearly demonstrates. The most prominent difference is the wine leaves in the hair of Melpomene: In the 1927 photo the leaves are without dents, whereas dents are clearly visible in the Riga copy. Further, in the Riga marble there is a blackish-brown vein in the marble from the right eye down towards the left breast. This vein is not apparent in the 1927 photo. There seems to be other details not matching in the drapery as well.
In the abovementioned publication the provenance of the Riga bust is not documented, so evidence for the claim is not presented.
Last updated 12.05.2016