Antagelig oktober 1810

Sender

J.L. Lund

Sender’s Location

København

Recipient

Bertel Thorvaldsen

Recipient’s Location

Rom

Information on recipient

Tilskrift: An Herrn Prof. Thorvaldsen in Rom.

Dating based on

Af brevindholdet fremgår, at Lund og Friederike Brun på brevskrivningstidspunktet var ankommet til København efter deres fælles rejse fra Rom. Af Bruns erindringer: Römisches Leben, Zweiter Theil, Leipzig 1833, p. 319, fremgår det, at de rejste fra Rom d. 12.8.1810. Den 4.9.1810 skrev Lund til Thorvaldsen fra Milano, hvorfor de rejsende tidligst kan have nået København ved september måneds udgang. Brevet er derfor formentlig sendt tidligst primo oktober 1810.

Abstract

Lund writes that he has arrived safely in Copenhagen. He explains that a written authorization is necessary if Thorvaldsen’s things are to be released from the estate after the late professor Nicolai Abildgaard. Thorvaldsen can just give the authorization to C.G. Kratzenstein Stub, whom Lund will write soon. He mentions that he has received Christian Daniel Rauch’s letter and sends greetings to all his friends in Rome.

Document

Jeg benytter denne Leilighed, at sige Dem, at vi har lykkelig tilbagelagt ReisenI hertil. Mig angaaende kan jeg endnu inte sige Dem noget bestemmt, men imidlertid haaber jeg alting skal gaae godtII. – For at kunde faae Deres Kaabbere og andre SagerIII som staaer hos Frue AbildgaardIV, og som Frue BrunV siger ogsaa hos Hr. WestVI, vil det vel være nødvendigt at faae en skriftelig Fuldmagt fra Dem, og derom beder jeg Dem, at De vilde have den Godhed at sende mig den, so snart som muelig, giv den bar til StubVII, saa faaer jeg den sikkert. – I næste Uge skriver jeg maaskee til Stub. RauchsVIII Brev har jeg faaet. – Lev vel, og vær hilset fra mig paa det venskabeligste. Hils alle vor Venner i Rom fra Deres Ven JLLund

Oversættelse af dokument

I seize this opportunity to tell you that we have happily finished our journey to this place. As regards me, I cannot tell you anything definite, but I hope that all will go well. – In order to get your copperplate engravings and other things, which are at Mrs Abildgaard’s place and which Mrs Brun also says are at Mr West’s, it will be necessary to get a written authority from you, and this is what I ask of you that you will be so kind as to send it to me as soon as possible; you can just give it to Stub, then I am sure to get it. – Next week I shall perhaps write to Stub. I have received Rauch’s letter. – All the best, and sincere regards from me. Remember your friend J.L. Lund to all our friends in Rome.


[Translated by Karen Husum]

General Comment

On the back of the letter, there is a greeting from Dr. Poul Scheel, see this.

Archival Reference

m2 1810, nr. 48a

Thiele

Ikke omtalt hos Thiele.

Subjects

Persons

Commentaries

  1. Lund left Rome 12.8.1810 in the company of Friederike and Ida Brun.

  2. Here Lund is probably referring to his professional situation. He had hoped to get the chair at the
    Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen which had fallen vacant on the death of the painter Nicolai Abildgaard. At first, however, his hopes were disappointed, and he was not appointed professor until 1818, together with C.W. Eckersberg. The art collector, Consul Hans West, made the following defence of Lund to the president of the Academy of Fine Arts, Crown Prince Christian Frederik, in a letter dated 7.7.1810: “He [Lund] will become a good teacher at the Academy as he has the gift of being able to communicate; he also has a great many drawings after the old masters which will be very useful to him as a teacher.” His defence was probably a reaction to the Crown Prince’s confidence to West in his letter dated 7.6.1810: “Between you and me, Lund does not seem to be cut out to be a professor at the Academy and Abildgaard’s successor, as Schubart [i.e. Baron Herman Schubart] had recommended.” Both letters are quoted from Niels Breitenstein’s ‘Hans West’, reprint of Kulturminder 1955, p. 225 and p. 223, respectively.

  3. In 1798 and 1802 – when he was still planning to return to Denmark – Thorvaldsen had sent books, prints, etc. to Nicolai Abildgaard in Copenhagen. These things were still with Abildgaard’s widow and Jørgen West, as appears below. See the related article Transportation of Thorvaldsen’s Artworks to Copenhagen 1798 and 1802.

  4. I.e. Juliane Marie Abildgaard, who was the widow of Thorvaldsen’s mentor, the Danish painter Nicolai Abildgaard. Abildgaard had died the year before. See also the note on “copperplate engravings and other things”, for more about the things that Abildgaard had kept for Thorvaldsen.

  5. I.e. the author Friederike Brun, in whose company Lund had travelled from Rome to Denmark.

  6. This is most likely the carpenter and chief fire officer Jørgen West, a friend of Thorvaldsen’s youth, who kept, among other things, Thorvaldsen’s violins and flutes and a portfolio with copper engravings etc., see the previous note on “copper engravings and other things” for more about this.
    A possible alternative might be the art collector, Councillor of State Hans West, who had become acquainted with Thorvaldsen in Rome earlier that year. However, no sources support the idea that West had kept things for Thorvaldsen, but in theory West may have borrowed some of Thorvaldsen’s things from Abildgaard. On Abildgaard’s death in 1809, these things would naturally have been returned to Thorvaldsen. However, Lund would probably have referred to him as councilor of state and not just Mr. West. In short, it is most likely to be Jørgen West.

  7. I.e. the Danish painter C.G. Kratzenstein Stub, who was in Rome 1809-1811, and who became friends with Thorvaldsen and Lund.

  8. I.e. the German sculptor Christian Daniel Rauch, who, like Thorvaldsen, lived in Casa Buti. See also the article about Thorvaldsen’s Cohabitants in Casa Buti.

Last updated 04.12.2017