Bertel Thorvaldsen
Montenero
C.F. Hansen
København
Dateringen fremgår ikke af brevudkastet, men det er uden tvivl skrevet under Thorvaldsens ophold på Montenero fra juli 1804, og umiddelbart før billedhuggeren rejste herfra til Carrara medio august 1804, fordi denne rejse nævnes som nært forestående i udkastet. En sandsynlig datering må derfor være begyndelsen af august 1804, muligvis samtidig med de mange andre øvrige breve, Thorvaldsen skrev 6.8.1804.
Thorvaldsen thanks Hansen for his invitation to contribute to the decoration of Christiansborg. He asks what subjects Hansen wants. He and Herman Schubart are going to visit the marble quarries at Carrara.
Georg Zoëga is pleased that he can stay in Rome, especially thanks to Schubart. C.F.F. Stanley, who is ill, is on the Isle of Ischia
P. M.
Jeg finder mig beæret med det Brev som De har havt den Godhed under dato d: 18e JuniI at tilskrive mig, og som jeg for nogle Dage siden imodtog.
Hvor særdeles lykkelig jeg anseer det for mig, at være yndet og skattet af en Mand som foreener almindelig Agtelse med siældne Fortienester; det formaaer min Pen ikke at udtrykke. Jeg maae blot nøye mig med at forsikre Dem om, at Vedligeholdelsen af de maaskee alt for skaanselfulde Begreber De har fattet om mig og mine Talenter, er blevet mig en Fornødenhed, og at jeg stedse skal beflitte mig paa at giøre mig Deres venskabelige Omsorg værdig. De har givet mig paa samme et meget smigrende Beviis, med at ville unde mig den Glæde fælles at bidrage med Dem, til at pryde Vor Konges VaaningII. Intet ærefuldere Paadrag kunde betroes mig; ja selv den Tanke at arbeyde i Foreening med Dem, er tilstrækkelig til at giøre mig stolt af min Konst, og til at oplive min Enthousiasme for det ædle og Skiønne.
Jeg skriver Dem disse Ord under min Velynderindes Grevinde SchimelmannsIII Couvert. Hendes Broder vor agtværdige Minister Kammerherre SchubartIV hvis ædle Hierte og dybfølende Siæl for Konst og Konstnere yttrer sig ved alle LeylighederV, har maaskee bedømt mig og mit Arbeyde med for stor Partiskhed; thi han ynder mig, og denne Yndest kand have havt Indflydelse paa den meget for gode Meening, som han har bibragt Dem om mig. Imidlertiid føler jeg mig derved dobbelt forbunden til at anstrænge mine Kræfter for at kunde fortiæne Deres og hans Venskab. Jeg giør nu med ham en Reise til CararaVI for selv at udsøge det skiønneste Marmor, og da vil jeg strax begynde noget som De kunde anvende i Deres skiønne Architektur Plan. Om De troede, for Exempel, at en HebéVII eller en anden Mythologisk eller Historisk Figur kunde være passende, saa behag at tilkiendegive mig detVIII. Deres Meening skal tiæne mig til Veyledning. De vil billige, haaber jeg, at jeg blot beregner Hoffet mine Omkostninger, og at jeg overlader Vor faderlige Regiæring, selv at bestemme Konstnerens aarlige Underholdning; da hans Ønske blot indskrænker sig til det nødvendige Udkomme. Hans sødeste Belønning vil blive, at giøre sig værdig til Fædrenelandets Agtelse, og hans Medborgeres Yndest.
Vor berømte Danske Antiquar ZoegaIX er den samme værdige og interessante Mand som De kiendte i Rom. Han lever op paa nyt, siden han har opnaaet det Ønske at forbliveX i den gamle Verdens Hovedstad. Hans Legems Svaghed og huuslige Forhold giorde hans Reise til Kiel umuelig uden aldeles at ødelægge sig. Ogsaa denne Velgiærning for Zoega og for Danmark skylde vi vor Schubarts godgiørende MedvirkningXI! En saadan Meneskeven finder stedse Velbehag i, at see andre lykkelige; tog da vor fortræffelige KronprindsXII er altid redebond til at befordre hvad der er godt, og ædelt, saa finder en paa Sandhed grundet Forestilling hos ham den kraftigste Understøttelse. Torde jeg bede Dem om, at anbefale mig i Hans Kongelige Høyedheds naadigste Erindring, og takke ham for alt godt. Hans Bevaagenhed for mig, opfordrer min grændseløse SkiønsomhedXIII og opmuntrer mine Bestræbelser i allerhøyeste Grad.
Den stakkels StanleyXIV lever paa Øen IschiaXV hvor hans Helbreed nogenlunde bedres; men hans sygelige Tilstand, og Lamhed er desto meere beklagelig, da han som en brav, flittig, og duelig Dansk Konstner, var en bedre Skiæbne værdXVI. Jeg skal glæde hans ømme Hierte med at meddeele ham Deres venskabelige Erindring.
Hav den Godhed at adressere Deres Breve hos Hr UlrichXVII Dansk Consul i Livorno.
Jeg befinder mig for nærværende Tiid paa min Vens Kammerherre Schubarts LandstedXVIII i Nærheden af Livorno, hvor jeg agter at tilbringe de varme Sommer Maaneder som i Rom ere uudstaaeligeXIX, og hvis skadelige Virkning har i en Rad af Aar, overmaade svækket mit HelbredXX. Jeg anvender ogsaa her min Tiid saa godt som mueligt, da Herr Kammerherren har omskabt hans lille Bierg Hytte til Musernes TempelXXI.
Om Vedligeholdelsen af Deres Bevaagenhed, Yndest og Venskab, bederXXII
Thorwaldsen
P.S. Jeg tør smigre af et hastigt SvarXXIII for at begynde et Arbeyde som under Deres Veyledning vil blive mig dobbelt dyrebart.
P.M.
I feel honoured by the letter which you have been so kind as to write to me on the 18th of June and which I received some days ago.
How extremely fortunate I consider it for me to be liked and esteemed by a man who combines general respect with rare merits; my pen won’t be able to express that. I must simply content myself with assuring you that the maintenance of the perhaps far too merciful notions you have conceived about me and my talents has become a necessity to me and that I shall always endeavour to make myself worthy of your friendly attention. Of this you have given me very complimentary proof by granting me the joy to contribute with you to ornamenting our King’s dwelling. No more honourable commission could be entrusted to me; indeed, even the thought of working together with you is sufficient to make me proud of my art, and to stimulate my enthusiasm for the noble and the beautiful.
I write these words to you inside the letter of my patroness Countess Schimmelmann. Her brother our worthy minister, chamberlain Schubart whose noble heart and deep feeling for art and artists are evinced on all occasions may have judged me and my work with too great partiality; for he likes me, and this favour may have influenced the far too good opinion which he has given to you about me. By that, however, I feel doubly obliged to do my utmost to deserve your and his friendships. I am now going with him to Carrara to choose the most beautiful marble myself, and then I immediately want to begin something which you might use in your beautiful plan of architecture. If you thought, for example, that a Hebe or another mythological or historical figure might be suitable, then please let me know. Your opinion will serve me as guidance. You will approve of my merely charging the Court for my expenses, and of my leaving it to our paternal government to decide the artist’s annual sustenance, as his wish merely amounts to a bare living. His sweetest reward will be to make himself deserve the respect of his native land and the favour of his fellow countrymen.
Our famous Danish archaeologist Zoëga is the same worthy and interesting person whom you knew in Rome. He has brightened again since he has had his wish fulfilled to stay in the capital of the ancient world. His bodily weakness and domestic conditions made his journey to Kiel impossible without destroying himself completely. We owe also this kindness on Zoëga and on Denmark to our Schubart’s beneficent assistance! Such a friend of Man always enjoys seeing other people happy; and as our excellent Crown Prince is always willing to further what is good and noble a notion based on truth in him finds the most ardent support. Might I ask you to commend me to the gracious attention of His Royal Highness and thank him for his kindness. His good graces to me encourage my boundless gratitude and call on my efforts in the highest degree.
Poor Stanley is living on the Isle of Ischia where his health is reasonably improving; but his unhealthy condition and paralysis are the more regrettable as he as an honest, diligent and able Danish artist deserved a better fate. I shall please his tender heart by informing him of your friendly remembrance.
Please be so kind as to address your letters at Mr Ulrich, Danish Consul in Leghorn.
For the time being I am at the country house of my friend Mr Schubart, chamberlain, near Leghorn, where I intend to spend the hot summer months which in Rome are unbearable and whose damaging effect many years running has weakened my health extremely. I also use my time as well as possible here, as the chamberlain has transformed his small mountain hut into a temple of the Muses.
The maintenance of your attention, kindness and friendship is asked for by
Thorvaldsen
P.S. I dare indulge in a quick answer to begin a work which under your direction will be doubly precious to me.
[Translated by Karen Husum]
This is a draft of Thorvaldsen’s answer to Hansen’s letter of 18.6.1804. However, the draft was undoubtedly written and formulated by Herman Schubart during Thorvaldsen’s stay at Montenero, the Schubart family’s country house.
Thiele II, p. 237-238 questions whether Thorvaldsen ever finished the letter and sent it off because the draft letter was too long for him to copy! And because “…Thorvaldsen was clever enough to see that his cause was ill served by the copyist’s insipid phrases.”
The first explanation is hardly likely; in spite of his “unwillingness to write”:/emner/thorvaldsens-ringe-skrivelyst, Thorvaldsen was rather careful about answering official letters.
The second explanation, however, may contain some truth. Several passages in the letter are very self-effacing and very (self-)laudatory of Schubart:
How extremely happy I consider it for me to be liked and esteemed by a man who combines general respect with rare merits; my pen won’t be able to express that. I must simply content myself with assuring you that the maintenance of the perhaps far too merciful notions you have conceived about me and my talents has become a necessity to me…
and
...Schubart whose noble heart and deep feeling for art and artists are evinced on all occasions may have judged me and my work with too great partiality; for he likes me, and this favour may have influenced the far too good opinion which he has given to you about me. By that, however, I feel doubly obliged to do my utmost to deserve yours and his friendships.
and
Might I ask you to commend me to the gracious attention of His Royal Highness and thank him for his kindness. His good graces to me encourage my boundless gratitude and call on my efforts in the highest degree.
Thorvaldsen has probably reagarded these passages and others as obsequious and ingratiating. Though we do not know the sculptor’s view of the wording in this draft, we know from another draft letter, for which he also received assistance, that precisely polite phrases which were too verbose and servile were toned down in the finished letter that Thorvaldsen wrote himself, see the example of 23.9.1806 in Thorvaldsen’s Letter Writing Process.
Furthermore, Schubart’s attempt at interpreting Thorvaldsen’s feelings about Schubart himself may also have offended him.
The draft has been folded, and there are traces of red wax, but not necessarily of a seal, on the paper. Since the draft today is in Thorvaldsens Museum, the sculptor must have brought it with him from Montenero to Rome, which might indicate that he did not immediately write out the letter and send it off, but rather that he promised Schubart that he was going to make a fair copy when he got to Rome – possibly in order to revise the wording for the reasons given above.
Herman Schubart
Last updated 09.11.2020
See Hansen’s letter of 18.6.1804.
I.e. Christiansborg Palace. In his letter, Hansen had asked Thorvaldsen to contribute to the sculptural decoration of the palace, bat as the plans were not yet sufficiently advanced, he had not specified his commission.
See more about this in The Commission for Christiansborg.
The Danish salon hostess Charlotte Schimmelmann.
Thorvaldsen’s good friend Herman Schubart, who was a Danish diplomat in Italy. He is the one who writes this draft, and most likely he has also chosen the wording.
Though Schubart wrote this himself, it is not wrong that he played an important role for Danish artists and scientists in Italy. Besides Thorvaldsen, also C.F.F. Stanley and Georg Zoëga benefited from Schubart’s lobbying the Danish state on their behalf.
Thorvaldsen rejste sammen med Schubart til Carrara medio august 1804.
Thorvaldsen did not execute his Hebe, cf A37, until 1806-February 1807, but it may already have beern in his mind in 1804.
Hansen did not send a proper commission for works for Christiansborg until 31.12.1806.
See also The Commission for Christiansborg.
I.e. the Danish archaeologist Georg Zoëga.
At his own request, Zoëga was appointed professor of archaeology and chief librarian at the University of Kiel on 14.4.1802, but his reluctance to leave Rome made him first apply for a postponement in 1803 and, on 23.3.1804 (see Andreasen & Ascani, op. cit., no. 1063), ask the Crown PrinceFrederik (6.) to relieve him of his post. The appointment was withdrawn on 25.5.1804 (announced 26.5.1804, see Andreasen & Ascani, op. cit., no. 1072).
Regarding these events, see Jørgensen, op. cit., p. 111-113.
Schubart did play a role in securing this arrangement for Zoëga. For instance, Schubart added an urgent appeal to Zoëga’s letter of 23.3.1804 to the Crown Prince. Cf. letter of 3.4.1804 from Schubart in Naples to Zoëga: “J’ai envoyé il y a huit jours Votre lettre au Prince royale, en lui ecrivant a Votre sujet de la manière la plus pressante…”, see Andreasen & Ascani, op. cit., no. 1066.
Zoëga himself was not in any doubt about the effect of Schubart’s lobbying. He wrote to a friend in Copenhagen:
“Es ist das Werk des Herrn von Schubart, und es ist ihm gelungen, einen Menschen glücklich zu machen weit über seinen Hoffnungen: das ist eine Befriedigung für ihn, deren Empfindung alles übertreffen muss, was ich ihm hätte sagen können meine Dankbarkeit auszudrücken. Ohne ihn war ich ein verlorner Mann.”
See Andreasen & Ascani, op. cit., no. 1098 and Jørgensen, op. cit., p. 114
I.e. the Danish Crown Prince Frederik 6..
Dvs. taknemmelighed, erkendtlighed, se betydning 2 af skønsomhed i Ordbog over det danske Sprog.
I.e. the Danish architect and Thorvaldsen’s good friend, C.F.F. Stanley.
In July-September 1804, Stanley was on the Isle of Ischia off the coast of Naples because the island was known for its spas.
He was suffering from a rheumatic complaint, which periodically paralyzed him. He hoped to cure the disease on Ischia, see more about his disease in his biography.
Stanley died from his rheumatic complaint in Rome on 18.11.1805.
I.e. the Danish-German consul J.C. Ulrich.
It is somewhat strange that Thorvaldsen agreed to have his mail from Denmark sent to Leghorn. Presumably Schubart suggested this in his eagerness to help Thorvaldsen.
I.e. Montenero, about seven kilometres south of Leghorn.
Summers in Rome were insufferable because of the foul air, which in Italian is called aria cattiva. It is also mentioned by Thiele I, p. 109 and II, p. 29 as a problem that Thorvaldsen solved by leaving Rome in the summer.
It was generally believed that the unhealthy air was due to the hot winds from the Pontine Marshes that brought a great many malaria mosquitoes.
The Swiss writer Karl Viktor von Bonstetten also mentions this phenomenon in Reise in die klassichen Gegenden Roms, zur Schilderung ihres ehemaligen und gegenwärtigen Zustandes, vol. 2, Leipzig 1805, p. 7-11. He calls the problem cattiva aria, and writes, among other things, about the area in Rome where Thorvaldsen lived and worked: “Im Jahr 1775 hielt man die Höhen von Trinita del monte frey von dem Einfluss der ungesunden Luft; im Jahr 1802 nicht mehr.”
At this time, Thorvaldsen was suffering seriously from constipation, which developed into hemorrhoids, but his stay Montenero improved the situation, see more in Thorvaldsen’s Illness 1803-04.
This metaphor must have been the impulse that in September 1804 – a month later – made Thorvaldsen execute his relief The Dance of the Muses on Helicon, A705, which is a tribute to the rich cultural life at Montenero, the Schubart family’s country house.
The use of the verb ask in the concluding polite phrase in this way is reminiscent of another draft letter which Schubart wrote in his own name to C.F. Hansen, see February-March 1804. The similar wording makes it probable that Schubart is also the author of this draft.
Thorvaldsen did not receive a quick answer. Hansen did not write his next (known) letter until 31.12.1806, apologizing for having been silent for such a long time.