25.2.1804

Sender

Bertel Thorvaldsen

Sender’s Location

Rom

Recipient

Nicolai Abildgaard

Recipient’s Location

København

Information on recipient

Ingen udskrift.

Dating based on

Dateringen skyldes datoangivelsen på det afsendte brev, som dette udkast er forlæg til.

Abstract

Second draft of a letter: Thorvaldsen apologizes for his long silence due to an illness which has left him incapable of working and writing.

Document

Gode Hr Justidsraad!
De maae tilgive at jeg isaa lang Tiid ikke har skrivet Dem til; jeg har været næsten i et hel Aar saa syg at jeg ikke har kundet arbejde og af den Aarsag saa melankolsk at jeg indnu minder har kundet sadt mig til at skrive, ieg er nu noget bedre og har igen begynd lidet at arbejde – Bÿsterne vare alle giorte paa Spekolation de til Dem udtagen hr Justidraaden undtagne og en anden af Me[n]istren[...]

Oversættelse af dokument

Good Counsellor,
You must forgive me that I have not written to you for long; for almost a year I have been so ill that I have not been able to work and for that reason I have been so melancholic that I felt even less like sitting down to write, I am now somewhat better and have again begun to work a little – The busts were all made on speculation except for the ones for you excepted to you, Sir and another one of the minister [….]


[Translated by Karen Husum]

General Comment

This is a draft of Thorvaldsen’s letter dated 25.2.1804 to Abildgaard. The draft is almost identical to the introduction of the final letter. The fragment ends abruptly – regarding the continuation and comments on the letter draft, see the final letter.
Besides this fragment there are two other drafts of the same letter; one is identical to this fragment, while the other must represent an earlier stage in the writing process.

Document Type

Egenhændigt udkast

Archival Reference

m28, nr. 91,2

Thiele

Jf. Thiele I, p. 210.

Subjects

Persons

Works

A751 Homer, 1799, inv.nr. A751
A752 Rafael, januar 1800 - oktober 1800, inv.nr. A752
A759 Agrippa, 1799 - 1800, inv.nr. A759
A760 Cicero, 1799 - 1800, inv.nr. A760
A761 Cicero, 1799 - 1800, inv.nr. A761
A900 Edmund Bourke, 1800, inv.nr. A900

Last updated 01.09.2017