Comment on 19.10.1805
Piastre_ is a monetary unit which is roughly equivalent to the more common Roman monetary unit the scudo; baj. is an abbreviation of bajocchi, which was a small coin in the Papal States. 1 bajocco = 1/100 of a scodu, see also the related article about Monetary Units.
The sum mentioned corresponds to transport charges from Rome to Leghorn of the crates that Thorvaldsen sent to Copenhagen in 1800-02, see Transportation of Thorvaldsen’s Artworks 1798 and 1802.
However, Abildgaard’s representation of the matter is rather imprecise: Already on “20.3.1802”:/dokumenter/ea0302, Thorvaldsen had asked Abildgaard to reimburse the Danish consul in Leghorn, J.C. Ulrich, for the transportation charges, and the merchant Peter Rabeholm from Copenhagen, mentioned below, had come to see Abildgaard already in 1803 and asked in vain for the payment on Ulrich’s behalf, see letter dated 18.4.1803 from J.C. Ulrich to Thorvaldsen.
So, it does not seem to be correct, as Abildgaard writes below, that he had not been contacted by anyone with a bill. And if he had followed Thorvaldsen’s original request, he should have repaid the money on his own initiative.
Last updated 12.02.2018