16.4.1808 - The Thorvaldsens Museum Archives


	No. 664 of 10319

No. 664 of 10319

Sender	Date	Recipient
Bertel Thorvaldsen [+] Sender’s Location Rom	16.4.1808 [+] Dating based on Dateringen fremgår af brevet.	Pierre de Balck [+] Recipient’s Location Rom Information on recipient Ingen udskrift.
Abstract The contract between Thorvaldsen and Balck regarding the execution of a marble relief representing Phedre and Hippolyte and a bust of Homer, cf. A751. The bust is to be finished within a year and the relief within eighteen months.

Sender

Date

Recipient

Bertel Thorvaldsen [+]

Sender’s Location

Rom

16.4.1808 [+]

Dating based on

Dateringen fremgår af brevet.

Pierre de Balck [+]

Recipient’s Location

Rom

Information on recipient

Ingen udskrift.

Abstract

The contract between Thorvaldsen and Balck regarding the execution of a marble relief representing Phedre and Hippolyte and a bust of Homer, cf. A751. The bust is to be finished within a year and the relief within eighteen months.

Colla Presente privata scittura vengano in accordo Mosiù Balck col Sig[no]^re Alberto Thorvaldsen uno di eseguire il marmo biancho di carrara, nella qualita piu fina un basso rilievo lungo palmi quattro romani e alto tre, consistente in tre figure rapresentante la dichiarazione Fedra e Ipolito e il busto d’omero presso quello di Napoli tutto questo lavoro deve essere. terminato nello spazzio di un anno e mezzo cioè. il Busto in ermo in un anno e il basso rilievo in sei mesi doppo Mosiù Balck si obbliga come sopra di pagare al Sig[no]^re Thorvaldsen la somma di scudi romani Trecento cinquanta cinque

Il Busto
Il Basso rilievo

[tegn for møntenhed] 70
2:85

Li sudetti pagamenti sarranno distribuiti in due rate la prima i un anno di scudi setanta per il busto il residuo alla fine del anno e mezzo della presente data di 16: Aprile 1808 e fatti con denari mandati a questo effetto e alla sudetta epoca dal Sig[no]^re Marino Torlonia.

Pierre De Balck.
Alberto Thorvaldsen

General Comment
There are only two letters in Thorvaldsen’s Archives dealing with Balck’s commission. The first is this, i.e. the contract, according to which the commission was for a bas-releif and a copy after an antique bust of Homer, cf. A751. The contract was probably written in duplicate as the copy reproduced here is found in Thorvaldsen’s own collection of letters. As seen in the next letter from Thorvaldsen to de Balck, the subject of the bas-relief was changed. According to Thiele II, p. 100, this was due to the fact that the original commission had been assigned to the German sculptor Christian Daniel Rauch. Instead, Thorvaldsen executed the relief Hector with Paris and Helen, cf. A499. This relief, however, was never acquired by de Balck because of the subsequent deterioration of his financial situation, see the next letter from Thorvaldsen to de Balck.
Archival Reference
m27, nr. 3
Document Type	Amanuensis
Document by amanuensis	NN [+] Comment on amanuensis Kontrakten er muligvis konciperet af en italiensk skriver.
Thiele
Omtalt hos Thiele II, p. 100.
Other references
Richard James Campbell (ed.): Visions of Antiquity: Neoclassical Figure Drawings, Los Angeles, 1993, p. 315.
Subjects
Thorvaldsen's Works, Contracts
Works

General Comment

There are only two letters in Thorvaldsen’s Archives dealing with Balck’s commission. The first is this, i.e. the contract, according to which the commission was for a bas-releif and a copy after an antique bust of Homer, cf. A751. The contract was probably written in duplicate as the copy reproduced here is found in Thorvaldsen’s own collection of letters. As seen in the next letter from Thorvaldsen to de Balck, the subject of the bas-relief was changed. According to Thiele II, p. 100, this was due to the fact that the original commission had been assigned to the German sculptor Christian Daniel Rauch. Instead, Thorvaldsen executed the relief Hector with Paris and Helen, cf. A499. This relief, however, was never acquired by de Balck because of the subsequent deterioration of his financial situation, see the next letter from Thorvaldsen to de Balck.

Archival Reference

m27, nr. 3

Document Type

Amanuensis

Document by amanuensis

NN [+]

Comment on amanuensis

Kontrakten er muligvis konciperet af en italiensk skriver.

Thiele

Omtalt hos Thiele II, p. 100.

Other references

Richard James Campbell (ed.): Visions of Antiquity: Neoclassical Figure Drawings, Los Angeles, 1993, p. 315.

Subjects

Thorvaldsen's Works, Contracts

Works