Bertel Thorvaldsen
Montenero
Nicolai Abildgaard
København
Ingen udskrift.
Brevudkastet er udateret, men det er forlæg til det afsendte brev af 6.8.1804.
First draft of a letter: Thorvaldsen tells Abildgaard how devastated he was when he received the news of his mother’s death. Consul Ulrich in Leghorn has been very upset as he has not been refunded the money he paid for the transportation of the crates Thorvaldsen sent to Copenhagen. He wants permission to draw money in Abildgaard’s name in order to cover Ulrich’s expenses. He asks Abildgaard to deliver one of his crates to Charlotte Schimmelmann.
Jeg har i sin Tid imodtaget det BrevII som Deres Vel:III har beæret mig med, og hvis Indhold var desto smertefuldere for mig, da jeg paa engang, og uden at være derom i nogen Maade forekommetIV maatte erfare min elskede Moders DødV. De meddeelte mig denne sørgelige Nyhed i faae Ord, og Gud veed hvor smertefult det var for mig. Imidlertiid er jeg fuldkommen overbeviist om at Deres Vel: ikke troede at nedslaae mig i den Grad ved de faa Linier De tilskrev mig. Siden har De havt den Godhed at lade mig ved Hr WalickVI giøre et Budskab, hvis Indhold jeg troer med egen Pen at burde besvare.
Da jeg efter den mig fra Accademiet givne InstruktionVII sendte nogle Stykker af mit Arbejde hiem, maatte jeg være overbeviist om at dets ædle ForstanderVIII ey kunde eller vilde lade transporten med flere Omkostninger falde mig til Byrde, da jeg med største Sparsomhed maatte søge mit Udkomme i et fremmed Land af det mig bevilgede StipendiumIX. Vor Danske ConsulX i Livorno som besørgede disse Forsendinger giorde de dertil henhørende Udlæg, for hvilkes Afbetaling han paadrog en af Hans Correspondentere i Kiøbenhavn at forlange Erstattelse hos Deres Velbaarenhed i Følge min derom giordte Anmodning. Men De troede ikke at kiende Sagens Samenhæng og gav Hr Wallick Paadrag at erkyndige sig derom. Imidlertiid var et Aar henløbet og Consulen som stoed i ForskudXI mistænkte mig for at have givet ham Anvisning paa en Person af hvilken jeg intet havde at fordre. Dette fik jeg nu at høre ved min Nærværelse i Livorno og det krænkede mig ikke lidet. Jeg undskyldte mig paa det bedste ved Misforstaaelse og forpligtede mig til paa nyt at bringe Sagen i ErindringXII.
Jeg tør altsaa smigre mig af at De som saa lang tid var min Velyndere og Foresadte vil foranstalte denne Sags Afgiørelse, og for at hæve alt muelig Vidtløftighed paa Deres Side, tager jeg mig den ærbødige Frihed at foreslaaeXIII Deres Vel: om De vil have det Yndest for mig at meddeele mig tillige Beløbet af de for min Regning solgte BüsterXIV, og lægge den Summe til den allerede indsendte RegningXV, over hvis Nøyagtighed ingen Tvivl kand være, og da at tillade mig at jeg trækker i sædvanlig Stiil à to Maaneder Dato en Vexel paa Deres Velbaarenhed for den hele Summa til Fordeel for Herr Consul Ulrich i Livorno.
Fremdeles maae jeg tage mig den Frihed at bede Dem om, at ville tilstille min Velynderinde Frue Grevinde SchimelmannXVI den Kiste med Kaabere og andre KonstsagerXVII som tilhøre mig, og af hvilke jeg har tilbudt min ædle Ven Herr Kammerherre SchubartXVIII Bruget til de to unge DamerXIX som Grevinden opdrager.
Jeg har nyelig tilskrevet AccademietXX i hvis Yndest saavelsom i Deres Vel:s jeg med største Hengivenhed anbefaler mig.
I formerly received the letter which Your Honour has honoured me with and whose contents were so much more painful to me as I at once and without being prepared in any way had to learn about the death of my beloved mother. You informed me about this sad piece of news in few words, and God knows how painful it was to me. I am, however, completely convinced that Your Honour did not mean to cast me down to such a degree by the few lines you wrote to me. Since then you have been so kind as to send me a message by Mr Walick, the contents of which I think I ought to answer in my own pen. When according to the instruction from the Academy I sent some pieces of my work home I felt convinced that its noble director was neither able to nor wanted to let the transportation with more costs be a burden to me, as with the strictest economy I had to find a living in a foreign country from the scholarship which had been granted me. Our Danish Consul in Leghorn who saw to these shipments made the related outlays, the payment of which he instructed one of his connections in Copenhagen to demand compensation for from Your Honour according to my request about this. But you did not think you knew the real truth of the matter and commanded Mr Walick to inquire into it. In the meantime a year had passed and the Consul, who had laid out the money, suspected me of having referred him to a person from whom I had nothing to expect. So I heard said in my presence in Leghorn and it offended me not a little. I apologized as well as possible that it was a misunderstanding and undertook to call attention to the matter once again.
So I dare flatter myself that you who for so long have been my protector and superior will arrange the settlement of this matter, and to annul all possible diffuseness on your part I take the humble liberty to suggest to Your Honour that you will show the kindness to me also to inform me of the sum of the busts sold on my behalf, and add this sum to the already forwarded bill about the accuracy of which there can be no doubt, and then permit me in the usual way to draw a bill on Your Honour on this sum in favour of the Consul Mr Ulrich in Leghorn.
Furthermore I must take the liberty to ask you to send to my benefactress Countess Schimmelmann the crate with prints and other articles of art which belong to me and the use of which I have offered to my noble friend chamberlain Schubart for the two young ladies, whom the Countess educates.
I have written to the Academy recently whose favour as well as Your Honour’s I hope for with affection.
[Translated by Karen Husum]
This draft is one of three of the letter sent 6.8.1804. Unlike the other two drafts, the wording differs greatly from the final version, which is why this draft probably represents an earlier or the earliest stage of the writing process.
The draft – unlike the later ones – is written entirely by Herman Schubart on his characteristic, pale blue draft paper. There are even several signs that the draft might have been written without Thorvaldsen’s participation. Firstly, the tone is much more businesslike than in the final version. Secondly, this draft contains elements that Thorvaldsen did not normally use in his letters to Abildgaard: The letter begins with a P.M. / i.e. pro memoria, which reflects a formal style of letter-writing which the diplomat Schubart knew from official letters, but which Thorvaldsen did not use when writing to his teacher; besides, Abildgaard is addressed several times Your Honour – a formal address that Thorvaldsen also never used in his letters to his teacher. These are indications that Schubart was the author of this draft, and that Thorvaldsen subsequently made the necessary changes in the later drafts and the final letter in his own handwriting, probably because the tone was too sharp.
Herman Schubart
Last updated 02.06.2015
I.e. Pro Memoria – 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.
Letter of 17.1.1804 from Abildgaard.
In the final version of 6.8.1804 Thorvaldsen failed to disclose that he had received Abildgaard’s letter, probably because he did not like to mention his mother’s death and the strong impression it had made on him.
I.e Your Honour. Neither before nor since did Thorvaldsen use this very formal address in his letters to Abildgaard, and it was also deleted in the final letter of 6.8.1804. This indicates that this draft was written by Herman Schubart alone, see the general comment.
At være forekommet betyder at gøre noget eller træffe foranstaltninger i forvejen, se betydning 5) af forekomme i Ordbog over det danske Sprog.
Karen Thorvaldsen died 7.1.1804, which Abildgaard told Thorvaldsen in his letter dated 17.1.1804.
The following passage about the strong impression that the news about his mother’s death had made on him was omitted in the final version dated 6.8.1804 to Abildgaard, so it was obviously difficult for Thorvaldsen to tell his mentor about his grief.
Thiele I, p. 209 thinks that Abildgaard’s news about the mother’s death was conveyed in ”a very rough and indifferent manner”, which aroused a “feeling of bitterness” in Thorvaldsen, but the question is what Abildgaard could have written to soften the harshness of the news. Thiele continues on p. 210: “At the time Thorvaldsen hid his ill-will towards Abildgaard because of this letter [dated 17.1.1804] as well as he could by not mentioning his mother’s death at all in the letter [dated 25.2.1804] that he then wrote to him…” Whether one is to understand Thorvaldsen’s silence as ill-will towards Abildgaard or not, it is still a fact that the sculptor suppressed his reaction both in his first letter dated 25.2.1804 and also in this second one less than six months later.
The Danish scene painter Arnold Wallick. The message Wallick was to deliver has not been preserved, but it must have been about payment of the transportation of the crates that Thorvaldsen had sent to Copenhagen, cf. below.
I.e. the instructions from the Academy of Fine Arts of 23.8.1796 to Thorvaldsen, requiring him, among other things, to send some of his works home for evaluation as mentioned below.
I.e. Abildgaard, who was the director of the Academy of Fine Arts 1801-1809.
I.e. the travelling scholarship of the Academy of Fine Arts, which Thorvaldsen received 2.11.1795, effective from 1.7.1796.
The Danish consul at Leghorn J.C. Ulrich.
Dvs. at have gjort udlæg, se Ordbog over det danske Sprog.
Thorvaldsen’s description of Consul Ulrich’s reaction and his own annoyance at the matter of the unpaid transport charges was toned down considerably in the final letter compared to the blunter version given here.
Unlike the final letter of 6.8.1804, it is quite clear what Thorvaldsen is asking of Abildgaard here. He thought the Academy of Fine Arts / Abildgaard should pay all the transport charges. He therefore suggested that he should draw a bill on Abildgaard for an amount that would cover Ulrich’s expenses for the transportation of the crates. In addition to that, Thorvaldsen also wanted a sum corresponding to the profit that he erroneously thought he had made on the sale of the busts he had sent to Copenhagen.
In the final letter he was somewhat more modest and suggested a different apportionment of the expenses although it is not completely clear how.
The matter did not end until 1806, when Abildgaard through H.M. Frisch paid part of the money while Thorvaldsen had to pay the rest, see the related article about Transportation of Thorvaldsen’s Artworks to Copenhagen 1798 and 1802.
I.e. some of the busts which Thorvaldsen had sent to Copenhagen, see Transportation of Thorvaldsen’s Artworks 1798 and 1802.
J.C. Ulrich’s detailed account of his expenses in letter of 9.5.1803.
The Danish salon hostess Charlotte Schimmelmann, who, as his “patroness”, had played a crucial role in connection with the Danish King’s/government’s acceptance of Thorvaldsen’s continued stay in Rome, see the related article Thorvaldsen’s Continuance in Rome around 1803-1804.
The crate that Thorvaldsen is referring to may be the 4th
Crate of the shipment that arrived in Copenhagen in 1802.
In a letter of 20.3.1802 to Abildgaard, Thorvaldsen had asked his mentor to keep the crates for him “until I return home”. As Thorvaldsen’s return to Denmark at this time had been postponed indefinitely, cf. Thorvaldsen’s Continuance in Rome around 1803-1804, the crates with prints could be of use instead of just being in storage.
Earlier, cf. letter of 21.7.1800, Abildgaard had appropriated a volume of prints of Raphael’s works which Thorvaldsen had sent home and asked him to buy another copy. This may be the reason why the tone in the request to send the crate to Charlotte Schimmelmann may appear somewhat sharp. However, this passage was deleted from the final letter.
The Danish diplomat Herman Schubart.
The two young women are probably Charlotte Schimmelmann’s adopted daughters Louise and Josephine Schimmelmann (1790-1852).
See J. Bloch: ‘To miskjendte Venner. Til Belysning af Forholdet imellem Olinto dal Borgo og Herman Schubart’, (særtryk af Museum), Copenhagen 1890, p. 15.
See Thorvaldsen’s latter of 6.8.1804 to the Academy of Fine Arts.