Bertel Thorvaldsen
Montenero
Nicolai Abildgaard
København
Ingen udskrift.
Dateringen fremgår af brevet.
Thorvaldsen informs Abildgaard that he has been seriously ill. He asks Abildgaard’s permission to draw money in his name to pay for the transportation of the crates sent to Copenhagen. Thorvaldsen asks him to take care of the packages he has also sent. The bust of Mathias Saxtorph, A899, will soon be finished. Thorvaldsen is going to Carrara with Herman Schubart. He has received several commissions for new works and thanks Abildgaard for his continued support.
MonteneroI d 6 agust 1804
Gode Herr Justiceraad!
Enskiøndt jeg i lang Tid ikke har haft den Ære at bekomme BrevII fra Justiceraaden, saa har jeg dog med Fornøelse erfaret af Hr WallechIII og HorenbechIV, at De befinder Dem frisk og vel, som altid vil glæde mig at høre. Jeg kand ey beskrive alt det jeg har lidt i en Sygdom som næsten et helt Aar har holdt mig uden at see ende paa at Leve elle DødV, De vil let kunde forestille Dem Hr Justiceraad i end saadan Tilstand min Forfatning i et fremmet Land og uden anden Resource end at tage Penge paa de Arbeyder som jeg haver forpligtet mig at udføreVI, som har netrykket min Hümeur endnu mere; indtil jeg har haft den Lykke at giøre Bekjenskab med vor Minister Kammerherr v SchubartVII som har giordt alt for migVIII, hvad en ædel og Retskaffen Mand kand giøre for sit Medmenneske jeg er paa hans Lysted i Toscana og befinder mig meget bedre. Ved min Nerverelse i Livorno har jeg erfaret hos den danske Cunsulo UlrichIX at han endnu ikke er betaldt for mine KasserX som han har besørget til Kiøbenhavn, han var næsten opbragt imod mig, og havde været det meget mere dersom Baron Schubart ikke alt forud havde forsikret ham at han ingen Frygt skulde have for hans udleg. Jeg tør altsaa smigre mig at De vil have den Godhed for mig at medvirke til denne Sags Afgiørelse, og for at hæve alt mulig vidtløftighed fra paa Deres Side tager jeg mig den Frihed at foreslaaXI Justiceraaden at tillade mig at jeg trækker i sædvanlig Stiil a to Maaneder dato, en Vexel paa Justiceraaden, til fordel for Hr Consul Ulrich i Livorno; som kan aftrækkes af de for mig solgt[e] Buster, jeg er ves paa at Academiet ikke forlanger at [jeg] skal betal de KasserXII med mit Arbeyde som jeg efter min IndstruxXIII har skikket Samme. Vil Hr Justiceraaden ogsaa bevise mig den Tienest at modtage en stor Portefeuille med KobedstykkerXIV som er kommen til Professor MünterXV addressen derpaa er til Hr WestXVI. den samme adresse som er paa endel af de Pakker Justiceraaden er saa god at forvare for mig, jeg har heller ikke hørt noget om en Bog med Raderte LandskaberXVII som De Herer ObelitzXVIII og SchumacherXIX toge med sig for mig til Kiøbenhavn. Kunde Justiceraaden ogsaa modtage den saa var det mig usigelig kiært. Hr Doctor SchelXX beder jeg flitigst hilset, hans hos mig bestilte BusteXXI skal snart blive færdig. [H]Vis Just[ic]eraaden ikke kiender de omtalte Hr Obelitz og Schumacher saa kand H. Docter Schel give Dem efteretning da han har giordt Rejsen til Rom med Dem. Jeg anvender min Tid her paa d[e]tte yndige StedXXII saa godt som muligt. Den sunde Luft og Kammerherre Schubarts venskabelige Omsorg for mig har havt særdeles god Virkning paa min SundhedXXIII, og om faae Dage agter Kammeherren at giøre en Tour med mig til CararaXXIV for der at see de berømte Marmor Gruber, og at sætte mig derved i Forbindelse med de Menesker som sælger det bedste Marmor. Adskellig FremmedeXXV har bestilt nogle Arbeyder hos mig hvilket Justiceraaden vil erfare af mit BrevXXVI til Academiet, hvilket vist ikke vil fortryde paaXXVII at jeg har taget mig Arbeyder paa, da dets Hensigt er at jeg skal danne mig og blive en Konstner, som er Hensigtten hvorfor jeg har nød et Academiets StipendiumXXVIII. Jeg føler dybt at jeg er denne Bistand de Fortskridte jeg har giordt i Konsten skyldig; og føler endnu dybere at jeg har Justiceraaden[s] Godhed at takke derfor, Hvad ivrigere Ønsker kunde jeg derfor have end Vedligeholdelsen af samme? og jeg kand ikke slutte mit Brev uden at anbefale mig i Justiceraadens Vedvarende Venskab, som vil bidrage til at opmuntre mig, som jeg er overbeviist om at De vil stedse tage Venskabelig Andel i Skiæbnen af Deres
ærbødigste forbundne
B. Thorvaldsen
Montenero, August 6th 1804
Sir, Counsellor,
Though for a long time I have not had the honour to receive a letter from the Counsellor I have with pleasure learnt from Mr Wallick and Mr Hornbech that you are healthy and well, which will always please me to hear. I cannot describe all that I have suffered from an illness which almost for a year has kept me without seeing an end to living or dying. You will easily be able to imagine, Sir, in such a condition my plight in a foreign country and without any other resources than making money on the works which I have undertaken to carry out, which has depressed me still more; until I had the good fortune to get to know our minister von Schubart, chamberlain, who has done all for me that a noble and honourable man can do for his fellow being, I am at his country house in Tuscany and feel much better. At my presence in Leghorn I have learnt from the Danish Consul Ulrich that he has still not been paid for my crates which he has forwarded to Copenhagen, he was almost indignant with me and should have been more so, if Baron Schubart had not assured him beforehand that he need not fear for his expenses. So I dare indulge in the hope that you will be so kind as to contribute to the settlement of this matter, and to annul all troubles from on your part I take the liberty to suggest to the Counsellor to permit me to draw a bill in the usual style for two months on the Counsellor for Consul Ulrich in Leghorn; which can be drawn from the busts sold for me, I am certain that the Academy does not demand that I must pay the crates with my works which I according to my instructions have sent the same. Will you, Sir, also show me the favour to receive a large portfolio with prints which has arrived at Professor Münter’s, the address on it is for Mr West. The same address which is on a number of the parcels the Counsellor is so kind as to keep for me, neither have I heard anything about a book with landscape engravings which Messrs Obelitz and Schumacher took with them for me to Copenhagen. If the Counsellor could receive these as well I should be unspeakably happy. I ask you to give many regards to Doctor Scheel, the bust he has ordered from me shall soon be finished. If the Counsellor does not know the mentioned Mr Obelitz and Mr Schumacher Doctor Scheel is able to give you some news as he made the journey to Rome with them. I spend my time here in this lovely place as well as possible. The healthy air and Mr Schubart’s solicitude of me have had a particularly good effect on my health and in a few days the chamberlain intends to go with me to Carrara, there to see the famous marble pits, and thus for me to establish contact with the people who sell the best marble. Several foreigners have commissioned works from me which the Counsellor will learn from my letter to the Academy, which will not disapprove of my accepting works, as its intention is that I must educate myself and become an artist, which is the intention for which I have enjoyed the scholarship from the Academy. I sincerely feel that I owe to this assistance the progress I have made in art, and feel much more sincerely that I have the kindness of the Counsellor to thank for this. What more ardent wishes could I then have than the upkeep of the same? And I cannot finish my letter without commending myself to the Counsellor’s continued friendship which will contribute to encourage me, as I am convinced that you will always take a friendly part in the fate of your,
Most humbly faithfully,
B. Thorvaldsen
[Translated by Karen Husum]
There exist three drafts that are all in some way preliminary versions of this letter. Two of the drafts have almost the same wording as the first 2/3 and the last 1/3 respectively of the final version. The third draft differs on several points from the present letter, and it must therefore be considered to be the first known draft in the writing process.
As Herman Schubart wrote the first draft of this letter, it must be assumed that he also helped Thorvaldsen write this one.
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Mathias Saxtorph, 1801, inv.nr. A899 |
Last updated 15.06.2015
Montenero was the Danish diplomat Herman Schubart’s country house outside Leghorn in Toscana, where Schubart had invited Thorvaldsen to spend the summer of 1804, see the letter of 2.7.1804 to Thorvaldsen in Firenze, inviting him to come and work at Montenero.
>However, Thorvaldsen had received a letter in “January of the same year. Also here Abildgaard gently reproached Thorvaldsen for not having written even though it was probably Thorvaldsen who had written last to his teacher on 20.3.1802, see the survey of the correspondence between the two in Abildgaard’sbiography.
The Danish scene painter Arnold Wallick, who arrived in Rome in October 1803, see letter of 18.10.1803 from C.F.F. Stanley to Thorvaldsen. He was probably travelling in the company of the Danish architect Christian Hornbech.
The Danish architect Christian Hornbech, see the previous note.
In 1803-04, Thorvaldsen was suffering from a serious case of hemorrhoids, see the related article for more about this. He had already mentioned his illness in his last letter of 25.2.1804.
At this time, Thorvaldsen had accepted commissions from Thomas Hope, Irina Vorontsova, Theodor von der Ropp and Adam Gottlob Detlef Moltke. Besides, Herman Schubart had commissioned portrait busts of himself and his wife and other things.
The Danish diplomat Herman Schubart.
By virtue of his contacts in Denmark, Schubart had played a crucial role in the efforts to obtain the Danish government’s official acceptance of Thorvaldsen’s continued stay in Rome. Thus Schubart had solved a very pressing problem for Thorvaldsen, so it was no overstatement to say that Schubart had “done all for” the sculptor; see more about this in the related article A Free Man. Thorvaldsen’s Continuance in Rome.
The Danish consul in Leghorn J.C. Ulrich.
I.e. the crates that Thorvaldsen in 1802 sent from Leghorn to the Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen on board the frigate Triton. Among other things, the crates contained samples of his work. See more about this in Transportation of Thorvaldsen’s Artworks to Copenhagn 1798 and 1802.
Already in his letter of 20.3.1802, Thorvaldsen had asked Abildgaard to pay Ulrich for the transport. However, it appears from letter of 18.4.1803 from J.C. Ulrich that Abildgaard had refused to pay for two of the crates, for which he thought that Thorvaldsen should pay himself.
See also letter of 9.5.1803 from J.C. Ulrich, in which he gives a detailed account of his expenses and complains that he has still not been reimbursed for his expenses.
It is not completely clear what Thorvaldsen is suggesting to Abildgaard here. He seems to think that the money Consul Ulrich paid for the transportation of the five crates should be reimbursed by the Academy of Fine Arts / Abildgaard. Therefore, Thorvaldsen wants to draw a bill on Abildgaard.
However, as he also asks Abildgaard to deduct the transport charges from the money Thorvaldsen erroneously thought was owed to him from the sale of the busts he had sent home earlier, it seems that part of Consul Ulrich’s expenses was to be covered by Thorvaldsen himself.
In both the first and the later draft of this letter, Thorvaldsen makes a different and less modest proposal. Here he thinks that the Academy of Fine Arts has to pay all the transport charges and also give him a sum corresponding to the profit from the sale of the busts.
Regarding this matter, see Transportation of Thorvaldsen’s Artworks to Copenhagen 1798 and 1802.
I.e. the above-mentioned crates.
I.e. the instructions of the Academy of Fine Arts, of 23.8.1796, which Thorvaldsen received before his departure, requiring him, among other things, to send some works to Copenhagen as examples of his progress.
It is not known what portfolio Thorvaldsen is referring to here. It was sent in one of the crates that were transported on board the frigate Triton from Leghorn to Copenhagen in 1802 and were mentioned in Thorvaldsen’s letter of 4.4.1800. The portfolio had been given to Friedrich Münter by mistake, but it was intended for Jørgen West. It appears from a later letter of 19.10.1805 that the portfolio had ended up with Münter’s sister Friederike Brun, who gave it to Jørgen West at Abildgaard’s request.
If Thorvaldsen here asks Abildgaard to receive the portfolio, he was apparently intended to act as an intermediary. In his letter of
11.3.1803, West mentioned that he had not received anything from Thorvaldsen at that time.
The Danish bishop and ecclesiastical historian Friedrich Münter. According to his letter of 4.4.1800 to Abildgaard, Thorvaldsen forwarded two parcels from Georg Zoëga to Münter.
Thorvaldsen’s good friend, the Danish carpenter Jørgen West.
This book of landscape etchings is so far unidentified.
The Danish jurist Frederik Obelitz, who in 1800 left Rome in the company of Jens Schumacher, cf. below.
The Danish jurist Jens Schumacher, who left Rome in 1800, cf. below.
The Danish-German doctor Poul Scheel.
A bust of the Danish obstetrician Mathias Saxtorph, see more about this in the related article about Saxtorph’s Bust.
I.e. Montenero.
Cf. Thorvaldsen’s remark about his health above.
Thorvaldsen and Schubart went to Carrara and Genova in August 1804 and returned to Montenero around 10.9.1804.
At this time, Thorvaldsen had accepted commissions from Thomas Hope, Irina Vorontsova, Theodor von der Ropp and Adam Gottlob Detlef Moltke. Besides, Herman Schubart had commissioned portrait busts of himself and his wife and other things.
See Thorvaldsen’s letter of 6.8.1804.
If Thorvaldsen is trying to justify his many commissions here, it is because, strictly speaking, i.e. formally, he was not allowed to accept commissions from others without the permission of the Danish King / the Academy of Fine Arts, see the related article Thorvaldsen’s Continuance in Rome around 1803-1804 regarding this matter. There it appears that this “prohibition” had been amicably revoked during the spring of 1804.
Thorvaldsen received the travelling scholarship of the Academy of Fine Arts for six years in 1796, and it had officially expired in 1802, but Thorvaldsen was to some degree still bound by his obligations towards the Academy / the Danish state.