Nicolai Abildgaard
København
Bertel Thorvaldsen
Rom
Ingen udskrift.
Dateringen fremgår af brevet.
Abildgaard discusses the payment for the transportation of the crates Thorvaldsen has sent to Copenhagen. The marble busts of Agrippa, A759, and Cicero, A760 and A761 have not been sold. They are in Abildgaard’s possession while the bust of A.P. Bernstorff is in the care of C.D. Reventlow. Abildgaard inquires how much he has to pay for the busts of Homer, A751, and Raphael, A752. Thorvaldsen’s copy of Pollux has been damaged during transportation to Copenhagen. Abildgaard commissions a portrait bust of Jacob Baden, A863.
He asks if Thorvaldsen intends to stay in Rome. If not, he will provide a residence and a studio for Thorvaldsen at the Royal Academy. Thorvaldsen will soon receive commissions for Christiansborg Palace. Abildgaard wants to know how Thorvaldsen’s father may be supported.
Kiøbenhavn 31te Jan. 1805.
Gode Ven!
for længe siden havde ieg ønsket at kunde besvare Deres seneste af 6te Augusti f.a.I men da der til denne Dag ingen har indfunden sig med nogen anviisning fra Dem, har ieg icke kundet betale noget ifølge Deres forlangendeII. Dog skulde ieg ønske De vilde underrette mig om, hvormeget ieg skal betale, da man ellers kan kræve af mig, hvad man finder for got. Deres hiemsendte gruppe af Bachus og AriadneIII har Academiet betalt fragt for, og RotheIV har betalt 62 rd i fragt for hans Faders BusteV, og for det øvrige har ieg betalt fragt og omkostninger, men hvad ieg har betalt, veed ieg icke mere, da ieg icke har tænkt mig nogen gotgiørelse, alt hvad der staar i min magt har ieg giort, og skal bestandig giøre for Dem. Den Portefeulle med KobbereVI De skriver om har ieg ladet efterspørge, men icke faaen, eijheller den Bog med Raderte LandskaberVII. alle Deres BusterVIII staar hos mig endnu lige som ieg fik dem, untagen BernstorffsIX, som ieg har laant til Grev ReventlowX, i haab om, at flere saa den i hans StueXI end i min, og at De følgelig kunde faa den betalt, men Bernstorff lever icke mere, hans Buste er altsaa ligegyldigt og den er hos Reventlow endnu. men Rothes Buste hvad skal den koste, saa vil ieg tale med Sønnen derom for at faa den betalt, og lad mig vide hvad ieg skal betale for Raphael og HomerXII De har haft det Venskab at sende mig. at den store KasseXIII med Deres Kopie efter en af figurerneXIV paa Monte Cavallo var aldeles sønderslagen, har De formodentlig erfaret ved HornbecXV. imidlertid staa alt som ieg modtog det. ieg har med en leutnantXVI som KronprindsenXVII lader Reise til Rom, for at blive Maler, sendt Dem en Masque og et Malet Portrait af avdøde Professor BadenXVIII, hvor af man ønskede en Buste i MarmorXIX, men man vilde gierne vide, hvad den skal koste.
Nu noget andet, tror De at blive bestandig i Rom, hvad De svarer mig herpaa bliver imellem osXX. ieg har haft den Tanke, at naar Weidenhaupt DøerXXI, som nu er meget svag, da at see om ieg kunde forbeholde Dem hans boelig og VærkstedXXII til De engang kom hiem. troe icke, at Italien bliver, hvad den nu er, og De kunde moske blive nødt til at gaae derfra, mig synes det var i alle tilfælde got at have mere end et tilflugtsted, De maa jo og blive gammel om De lever, og hvad da. imidlertid er det avgiort at De skal giøre nogle Statuer i Rom til SlottetXXIII, hvortil De i dette Aar vil faa OrdreXXIV. imidlertid vil ieg bede Dem overveje mit venskabelige forslag.
Var det icke muligt, da De er bekiendt i CararaXXV at ieg derfra kunde faa omtrent 20 kobik fod hvid Marmor en quareéXXVI hvoriblandt stycke af 4 a 5 fods lange, der sendes til Justisraa FrischesXXVII Commissionair i Livorno, som Hornbec kiender, da saa snart ieg imodtager et beviis for at det til vedkommende er avleveret skal betale hvad det koster uden ophold.
Hvad giør man ved Deres FaderXXVIII. ieg har i flere Aar understøttet Deres ModerXXIX naar hun trængte til min Hielp og endelig betalt hendes BegravelseXXX, og Deres Fader er endnu i samme tilstand, og hielper ham, med hvad ieg nogenlunde kan, men De vil selv indsee at denne Hielp er utilstræckelig, svar mig ligesaa venskabelig her paa som ieg skriver i denne anledning, De veed det kommer icke videreXXXI, imidlertid skal ieg med fornøyelse giøre alt hvad ieg kan. at det er mig en sand glæde at see og erfare De er bleven en udmærket duelig Konstner, og at det gaar Dem vel, behøver ieg vel icke at forsikre Dem om. glæd nu snart Deres ærlige ven med et par ord
Abildgaard
[tilføjet i margen:] Hils alle, som vil Hilses.
Copenhagen, January 31st 1805
Good friend,
For long I had wished to be able to answer your latest letter of August 6th last year, but as to this date nobody has appeared with instructions from you, I have not been able to pay out anything according to your request. However, I should like you to inform me how much I am supposed to pay, as otherwise I can be demanded to pay what is thought fit. The freight of the group you have sent home of Bacchus and Ariadne has been paid for by the Academy of Fine Arts, and Rothe has paid 62 rd for freight of his father’s bust. For the rest I have paid freight and expenses, but how much I have paid I no longer know, as I have no remuneration in mind. I have done all that I am able to for you, and shall still do so. I have asked people about the portfolio with copperplate engravings you write to me about, but have not come across it, neither the book with etched landscapes. All your busts are still at my place, just as I received them, except for the one of Bernstorff, which I have lent to Count Reventlow hoping that more people would see it in his room than in mine, and that consequently you might be paid for it, but Bernstorff is no longer alive, so his bust is unimportant and it is still at Reventlow’s. But how much is the bust of Rothe. I will then talk to his son about it to have it paid for, and please let me know how much I am to pay for Raphael and Homer, which you have been so kind to send me. You have presumably learned from Hornbec that the large crate with your copy from one of the figures on Monte Cavallo had been totally smashed to pieces. Everything stands as I received it. With a lieutenant whom the Crown Prince permits to go to Rome to become a historical painter I have sent you a mask and a painted portrait of the late professor Baden of whom a bust in marble is desired and information of how much it will be.
Now for something else, do you think that you will stay for ever in Rome, what you answer me to this will be between us. I have cherished the thought that when Weidenhaupt dies, who is rather weak now, I would try to reserve for you his residence and workshop until you once returned home. Do not think that Italy will stay as it now is and you might have to leave, I think that in any case, it would be good to have more than one place of refuge, you will also become old, if you live, and then what. However, it has been decided that you are to make some statues in Rome for the Palace, for which you will receive a commission this year. In the meantime I beg you to consider my friendly proposal.
Would it be possible, as you are known in Carrara, that from this place I could get about 20 cubic foot white marble en carré, in which are pieces of 4 to 5 foot long, which could be sent to Counsellor Frische’s commission agent in Livorno, whom Hornbec knows, and to whom as soon as I receive proof that it has been delivered to the person concerned I shall pay what it costs without delay.
What is to be done about your father. For several years I have supported your mother when she needed my help and finally paid for her funeral, and your father is still in the same situation, and I help him with what I reasonably can. You will realize yourself that this support is insufficient. Please answer me just as amicably as I write on this occasion, you know it will go no further. In the meantime I shall with pleasure do all I can. I do not have to assure you that it is a true pleasure to see and learn that you have become an excellent and competent artist and that you are doing well. Make soon your true friend happy with a couple of words
Abildgaard
[added in the margin:] Please remember me to those who would like my regards.
[Translated by Karen Husum]
|
|
Agrippa, 1799 - 1800, inv.nr. A759 |
|
|
Cicero, 1799 - 1800, inv.nr. A760 |
|
|
Cicero, 1799 - 1800, inv.nr. A761 |
|
|
Rafael, januar 1800 - oktober 1800, inv.nr. A752 |
|
|
Bacchus og Ariadne, januar 1798 - juni 1798, inv.nr. A1 |
|
|
Tyge Rothe, juni 1797 - december 1797, inv.nr. A225 |
|
|
A.P. Bernstorff, Antagelig tidligst september 1797 - Senest november 1797, inv.nr. A208 |
|
|
Homer, 1799, inv.nr. A751 |
|
|
Jacob Baden, juni 1806 - september 1806, inv.nr. A863 |
Last updated 29.01.2018
Thorvaldsens brev af 6.8.1804.
f.a. står for forrige aar.
In his latest letter dated 6.8.1804, Thorvaldsen asked Abildgaard to permit him to withdraw a sum of money, on Abildgaard’s behalf, in order to pay for Consul J.C. Ulrich’s expenses in connection with the transportation of the crates with works which Thorvaldsen had sent from Leghorn to Copenhagen in 1802. Regarding this matter, see Transportation of Thorvaldsen’s Artworks 1798 and 1802.
Thorvaldsen, however, did not withdraw the money for Ulrich, as it appears from the letter dated 18.11.1805 from Ulrich to Thorvaldsen that Ulrich had tried to get the money directly from Abildgaard, but that Abildgaard refused to pay Ulrich’s demand for “200 Marks Bco. de Hambourg”.
Thorvaldsen’s group Bacchus and Ariadne, A1, which was sent to Copenhagen in the summer of 1798.
Andreas Bjørn Rothe, son of Tyge Rothe, whose bust, mentioned below, Thorvaldsen carved in 1797.
Thorvaldsen’s bust of Tyge Rothe, A225.
This portfolio is not known. Thorvaldsen asked about it in his letter dated 6.8.1804. It was sent in one of the crates, which had been carried on board the frigate Triton from Leghorn to Copenhagen in 1802 and were mentioned in Thorvaldsen’s letter dated 4.4.1800.
By mistake, the portfolio had been given to Friedrich Münter, but it had been intended for Jørgen West. It appears in a later letter dated 19.10.1805 that the portfolio had been given to Münter’s sister Friederike Brun, who at Abildgaard’s request handed it back to Jørgen West.
This book with etched landscapes is not known. Thorvaldsen had sent the book with two returning Danes in 1800 and asked about it in his letter dated 6.8.1804 to Abildgaard.
The busts Thorvaldsen sent home of Tyge Rothe, A225; Homer, A751; Raphael, A752; Agrippa, A759; Cicero, A760 and A761; and possibly also Edmund Bourke, A900. See the related article about Transportation of Thorvaldsen’s Artworks to Copenhagen 1798 and 1802.
Thorvaldsen’s bust of A.P. Bernstorff, 1797, Brahetrolleborg (cf. original model A208). The bust had been sent to Copenhagen in 1802 with the ones mentioned above.
The Danish Prime Minister Christian Ditlev Reventlow.
In Reventlow’s mansion in Copenhagen, cf. letter dated 28.11.1808 from Reventlow. Here the count writes: “Counsellor Abildgaard… has sent me [the bust of A.P. Bernstorff], which is now in my house, but I do not know what plans you have for it.” Thorvaldsen then gave the bust to Reventlow, see letter dated 4.2.1809.
The bust was later moved to Pederstrup on Lolland, where Thorvaldsen saw it on 20.8.1820 during his visit to Denmark. See more about this in Chr. B. Reventlow: En dansk Statsmands Hjem, Copenhagen 1903, II, p. 254. The bust is now at Brahetrolleborg.
The marble busts of Raphael, A752 and Homer, A751. In his reply dated 28.7.1805, Thorvaldsen wrote that he had never intended to sell them but to give them to Abildgaard.
The so-called 1st crate of the crates that Thorvaldsen sent to Copenhagen in 1802.
Thorvaldsen’s plaster copy of Pollux, one of the so-called Dioscuri in Piazza di Monte Cavallo in Rome, see letter dated 4.4.1800 to Abildgaard.
The Danish architect, Christian Hornbech, who was in close contact with Abildgaard.
The Danish lieutenant Carl Christian Seydewitz.
Crown Prince Frederik (6.).
I.e. a death mask and a portrait of the Danish linguist Jacob Baden, see the letter dated 29.12.1804, which Abildgaard gave to Seydewitz when he left for Rome.
Based on the above-mentioned death mask and painting, Thorvaldsen executed the portrait of Jacob Baden, A863 c. 1806. The plaster original has disappeared, but a plaster bust of a smaller size, A802, which is thought to represent Jacob Baden, may have been a model for the larger marble Herma.
Abildgaard originally commissioned the bust on behalf of Baden’s widow, Sophie Louise Charlotte, née Klenow (1740-1824). However, she died before the bust reached Copenhagen in 1825, after which it passed to the Baden family, cf. no. 49 on the list dated 2.7.1825 of works sent from Leghorn to Copenhagen. Thorvaldsens Museum acquired the portrait in 1924 from the Baden family.
See Else Kai Sass: Thorvaldsens Portrætbuster, Copenhagen 1963-65, vol. I, p. 141-146.
Abildgaard strikes this confidential note because Thorvaldsen, according to the charter of the Academy of Fine Arts was obliged to return to Denmark. However, this obligation was postponed indefinitely in 1804, see the related article A Free Man. Thorvaldsen’s Continuance in Rome about ith. .
The Danish sculptor and professor at the Academy Andreas Weidenhaupt, who actually died 26.4.1805, shortly after this letter was written.
I.e. to give Thorvaldsen the possibility to live and work at the Academy of Fine Arts, a privilege that went with the title of professor. Already at this time, Abildgaard apparently intended to have Thorvaldsen appointed professor at the Academy, which actually happened some months later, 6.5.1805.
When the official appointment as professor of sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts followed 7.6.1805, Abildgaard succeeded in reserving Weidenhaupt’s residence and studio in preparation for Thorvaldsen’s impending return, see letter dated 15.6.1805 from the Academy of Fine Arts to Thorvaldsen.
Incidentially, this arrangement aroused some animosity among the artists at the Academy, see letter dated 18.6.1805 from C.F. Stanley to C.F.F. Stanley and Thiele II, p. 41.
I.e. for Christiansborg. Regarding Thorvaldsen’s planned and executed works for the palace, see the related article Commission for Christiansborg Palace.
The commission for Christiansborg Palace was not received in 1805, not until C.F. Hansen’s letter dated 31.12.1806.
Thorvaldsen had written to Abildgaard 6.8.1804 that he was going to the marble quarries at Carrara.
I.e. French en carré, a square block of marble. Apparently, Thorvaldsen fulfilled Abildgaard’s wish at once. In his answer dated 28.7.1805, Thorvaldsen wrote that he had sent Abildgaard’s order to Carrara, but that it would not be shipped from there until some time during the autumn. He would then see to its further transportation to Copenhagen. Nothing was heard of the block of marble after that, and it is uncertain if it reached Copenhagen.
Probably the Danish merchant H.M. Frisch, who was also involved in the prolonged matter concerning the transpotation of Thorvaldsen’s crates 1798-1802 to Abildgaard, see the related article about this.
In 1803, Abildgaard had decorated Frisch’s house on Nytorv in Copenhagen with 5 motifs from Voltaire, so it seems likely that Abildgaard would use Frisch as his agent in connection with the transportation to Copenhagen of a block of marble from Carrara.
I.e. Gotskalk Thorvaldsen. Abildgaard’s question was instrumental in Thorvaldsen’s father’s admission to Vartov, see the related article about this.
I.e. Karen Thorvaldsen, who had died in 1804.
It does not seem quite correct that Abildgaard paid all of the funeral expenses. In his letter dated 20.10.1805, Gotskalk Thorvaldsen writes: Abildgaard “gave me 10 rix-dollars to help pay for your mother’s funeral. For that honour, I gave her such a decent funeral that it cost me 53 rix-dollars, to pay for which I have since had to work.”
These remarks suggest that Abildgaard understood that Gotskalk Thorvaldsen’s poverty and the son’s inability to provide for him were painful to Thorvaldsen. See the related article Gotskalk Thorvaldsen’s Admission to Vartov 1805 and Thiele I, p. 270 and Thiele II, p. 7-12 & p. 34-35.