5.1.1795

Sender

Bertel Thorvaldsen

Sender’s Location

København

Recipient

Kunstakademiet, København

Recipient’s Location

København

Information on recipient

Udskrift: Til Det Kong: Mahler Billedhuger og Bygnings Academie

Dating based on

Dateringen fremgår af brevet.

Abstract

Thorvaldsen presents the relief Numa Pompilius and Egeria, A748, to the Royal Academy. He also applies for a prolongation of the pension he was awarded at the end of 1793.

Document

Underdagniste Prome MoriaI

Herved har ieg den Ære at forrestille Academiet et Stycke af mit seeneste Arbeide; som forrestiller Numa Pumpilius Samtale med Nymfen EgirieII i sammes Grotte. At ieg icke oftere i Det forbeigangene Aar, har haft den Ære at forre visse Academiet noget af Mit Arbeide; er icke sket af mangel paa Fligtighed; men for die at ieg den meeste Tid af Aaret har været beskiæftiget med arbeide paa Hans Kong: Høyheds Arveprintzen PalaisIII.
Jeg fordrister mig atter at ansøge det Høye Academie; at samme vilde have den Godhed for mig; endnu i Aar at maatte beholde den PensionIV som blev mig tildeel i det forbigangene Aar, da den vilde være mig een betydelig hielp til at kunde fortsætte mine Studeringer, tillige at ieg ved samme hielp kunde erverve mig de SprogkundskaberV, uden hvilke et hvert fremskrit er umuligt.
Kiøbenhavn d: 5: Januarij 1795
Underdagnist
  Thorvaldsen

Oversættelse af dokument

Humblest Prome Moria

By this I have the honour to present to the Academy a piece of my latest work which represents Numa Pumpilius in conversation with the nymph Egirie in the latter’s cave. That I have not had the honour more often during the past year to present some of my work to the Academy is not due to lack of diligence but is because most of the year I have been occupied in working on the palace of His Royal Highness the Heir Presumptive.
Once more I venture to apply to the high Academy that it will be so kind to me as to let me keep the pension one more year which was awarded me last year, as it would be a considerable help so that I could continue my studies and besides be able by the same help to acquire the knowledge of languages without which any progress is impossible.
Copenhagen, 5th January. 1795
Most humble,
  Thorvaldsen.




[Translated by Karen Husum]

General Comment

In order to obtain a prolongation of his pension from the Academy of Fine Arts, cf. application of 2.12.1793, Thorvaldsen improved the earlier relief Numa Pompilius and Egeria, A748 fra 1792. The journal of the Academy of Fine Arts (The Danish National Archives, Kunstakademiets arkiv, Akademiforsamlingen, Dagbog) of 5.1.1795 reads: “The student Thorvaldsen showed a relief of Numma Pompilius and the nymph Egeria, and an application for a prolongation of the pension of 100 rix-dollars awarded him last year. Granted.”
According to Thiele I, p. 40 Thorvaldsen was also promised the travelling scholarship of the Academy of Fine Arts, which would be available in 1796. If Thorvaldsen obtained this promise already in January of 1795, it must have been given orally as he was not given the travelling scholarship until November of that year, see letter of 2.11.1795.

Document Type

Færdigt egenhændigt dokument

Archival Reference

Rigsarkivet, Kunstakademiets arkiv, Akademiforsamlingen, journalsager, 1795, II, nr. 2.

Thiele

Gengivet hos Thiele I, p. 39-40.

Subjects

Persons

Works

A748 Numa Pompilius og Egeria, november 1794 - december 1794, inv.nr. A748
A757 Euterpe, 1794, inv.nr. A757
A758 Terpsichore, 1794, inv.nr. A758

Commentaries

  1. Latin for “in remembrance”, used to recall oneself to somebody. The expression was originally a polite introduction in letters to persons of a higher rank, often civil servants. Gradually it was also used more generally in letters to or from officials, often written in one word. The expression appears frequently in the more formal letters in the Archive.

  2. The relief Numa Pompilius and Egeria, A748.

  3. In 1794 Thorvaldsen was occupied in making statues and reliefs primarily after Abildgaard’s drawings for the palace of Arveprins Frederik (Heir Presumptive), now Christian 8.’s Palace, Amalienborg (cf. Thiele I, p. 38-39).
    Thorvaldsen was working on the following sculptures: The statues Euterpe (original model A757) and Terpsichore, (original model A758), the reliefs The Seasons, (original model Dep.21), The Hours, (original model Dep.22) and statues of two female figures, presumably muses.
    In ‘Abildgård og Christian VIII’s palæ’, in: Thorvaldsens Museum I, (1917), p. 17, Leo Swane states his opinion, based on a stylistic analysis, that Euterpe and Terpsichore were probably executed by Thorvaldsen but after Abildgaard’s sketches (A757 and A758). Swane modifies his view in Abildgaard, Arkitektur og Dekoration, Copenhagen 1926, p. 73, but still thinks that “the sculptures in their composition and their pose, in their distinctive character, are the works of Abildgaard…”
    This, however, is contradicted by Thorvaldsen himself, who, in his biography, written down by the historian Estrup 1818/1826, states that the two “are his works”. He made the same claim in a letter dated 8.1.1829 from Frederik Ferdinand Friis to J.M. Thiele, point 4, but also added “…as far as works for, e.g., the great hall are concerned, Thorvaldsen just remembers that Abilgaard asked him to execute several works for this palace, all of which he executed more as decorations than as real artworks.

  4. The year before Thorvaldsen was awarded a pension of 100 rix-dollars for a year, see Thorvaldsen’s application of 2.12.1793.

  5. When Thorvaldsen here mentions his need to learn foreign languages, he reveals a wish to go abroad. And it is of course precisely the Academy of Fine Arts that he is trying to court with a view to be awarded the travelling scholarship.
    See also the article on Thorvaldsen’s Spoken and Written language.

Last updated 07.06.2017