Bertel Thorvaldsen
Rom
Jørgen Conrad de Falsen
København
Dateringen fremgår af brevudkastet.
Thorvaldsen tries to formulate an answer to Falsen’s criticism of the two reliefs he has received for the sepulchral monument to his wife.
Rom d. 20 Martzo
1826
Jeg [har] med Fornøe[l]se imod[t]aget Deres Brev af 15 Dec[e]mbre forige aarI Hvoraf jeg seer at de er i forlæenhed med de to BassorilieviII som jeg har skikket til Deres salig KonesIII Minde. Jeg har ikke giordt mer eller mindre a hvad De har beedet mig om, De erendre maaske ikke at have sagt migIV at de ønskede Basserelievet af Natten da Deres Kone vis er DødtV tillige med to Børen
[På papirets bagside findes endnu et udkast til samme brev:]
Jeg har modtaget Deres Brev gode hr Falsen og seer deraf den forlegenhed de to Basserilieve giør Dem som jeg har sendt DemVI til Deres saleVII Kones Monument.
De irendre ma[a]ske ikke at De badt mig om at udføre Natten fordi De[r]es Kone var Dødt med to Børen og paa den anden SideVIII Genius med den omvende falkel, at den ene rundt og det andet firkantet er følge[lig]IX
[Under brevteksten er, mens papiret har været drejet 90 grader med Thorvaldsens hånd skrevet:]
4 pamleX
5 palme
Rome, March 20th
1826
With pleasure I have received your letter of December 15th last year from which I perceive that you have difficulties with the two bas-reliefs which I have made in memory of your deceased wife. I have done neither more nor less than what you have asked of me, you may not recollect to have told me that you wished the bas-relief of Night as I think your wife is dead as well as two children
[On the back of the paper there is another draft for the same letter:]
I have received your letter, my dear Mr Falsen and see from it the difficulties the two bas-reliefs give you which I have sent to you for your deceased wife’s monument.
Perhaps you do not recollect that you asked me to make Night because your wife had died as well as two children and on the other side Genius with the inverted torch, that one is round and the other rectangular is consequently
[below the text of the letter is written in Thorvaldsen’s hand, while the paper has been turned 90 degrees:]
4 palms
5 palms
[Translated by Karen Husum]
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Natten, Tidligst 1815, inv.nr. A901 |
Last updated 12.09.2016
Falsen’s letter to Thorvaldsen 15.12.1825.
According to Falsen’s letter dated 15.12.1825, he received a copy of Night, marble version, A901, and “another which represents the genius […and is…] small and square.” It is not known precisely which version of the Genius of Death Thorvaldsen sent to Falsen. See also the discussion in the related article on Falsen’s Commission.
Falsen’s late wife, Cecilie Catharina Høyer (1784-15.2.1816). She was the daughter of Christian Frederik Høyer, the minister who confirmed Thorvaldsen in Holmens Church.
Thorvaldsen and Falsen met each other in Milan on August 1st 1819, cf. Falsen’s entry in Thorvaldsen’s album 1.8.1819. It may have been on this occasion that they agreed on the details regarding the bas-reliefs.
Thorvaldsen’s work Night, marble version, A901, is an allegorical representation of night as a winged woman, who holds her two children, allegories of Sleep and _Death, in her arms. It has not been possible to confirm that Falsen, besides his wife, also lost two children.
The word has been inserted above the line.
Jf. ovenstående udkast mener Thorvaldsen sandsynligvis ‘salige’, hvilket jf. Ordbog over det danske Sprog (betydning 4) vil sige: ‘afdøde’.
It is not known what the monument was to look like. In his letter dated 15.12.1825, Falsen refers to a drawing that he and Thorvaldsen apparently agreed on. It may be the one that shows the reliefs placed on either side of the monument. If it had been agreed in advance that the two reliefs were to be placed on either side of the monument, then Thorvaldsen’s answer to and ill-concealed irritation at Falsen’s assertion in the above-mentioned letter –”that I cannot possibly make these 2 pieces [the reliefs] form one whole [the monument] – as the one that represents Night is big and round and the other that represents the Genius is small and square” – seem quite justified.
The letter ends abruptly here. The rest may never have been written, or perhaps Thorvaldsen wrote a new letter on another unknown sheet.
As Thorvaldsen also writes below, he probably means ‘palme’, a Danish version of the unit of measurement palmi. (See the related article Thorvaldsen’s Spoken and Written Language). It is not known what the measurements mentioned here refer to. It might be a calculation of the dimensions of_Night_, A901, whose diameter corresponds to ca. 4 palmi. However, if they refer to both the works mentioned in the letter, the next measurement should have been smaller, which is not the case. A Roman palmo (from Latin: palmus, i.e. palm of a hand) is 22,3 cm. See also the related article about ” Weights and Measures:/artikler/maal-og-vaegt.