J.C. Dahl
Dresden
Spor af rødt laksegl.
Bertel Thorvaldsen
Rom
Udskrift: An / Herrn Prof. A Thorvaldsen / in / Rom.
Dateringen fremgår af brevet.
Dahl asks Thorvaldsen to find acquaintances and work for Götzloff, who is coming to Rome to study. Dahl thanks Thorvaldsen for the fine bust he has made of him and promises him a painting.
Dresden d. 28 August 1821.
Høystærede Ven!
Uagtet jeg i Dag har lidt Tid at skrive Breve, saa kan jeg ikke unlade at Anbefale Dem en ung tale[n]tfuld Landskabsmaler Hr GietslövI herfra Dresden der fastII paa egen Haa[n]d tiltræder en Reise til Rom. – Han har her Allerede Leveret meget gode Landskaber, og vel vestIII dersom han ei (hvortil han dog synes at have hang) lader sig formeget blænde af Nutidens tørre udpænslede ManerIV. Jeg beder Dem om Muelig at skaffe ham bekiændtskaberV hvorved han kan faa Leilighed til at Arbeide (fortiene lidt) og at studere. –
Jeg er allerede en Tid af noget over 5 Uger herVI og endskiøndt dette Brev er mit første jeg skriver til Rom, saa bliver det ikke det første De vel [vil] modtage fra mig; eftersom G:VII reis[er] Langsomt og bliver omtrent 4 Maaneder underveis. Med en Anden Reisende Hr Kammerher v. PreüsVIII der om nogle Dage reiser til Italien velIX De og mine Venner samt andre Landsmænd blive underrettet hvordan det er gaaet mig paa min HiemreiseX og ved min Ankomst herXI. – Jeg fandt dog min Historie med, den saa ofte omtalte AnsættelseXII, her ved AcademietXIII, i Forvikling, som alt var skedXIV ved CabaleXV jeg betræder i øvrig ingen PostXVI der inbringer mig Løn, og velXVII vogte mig for, for Fræmtiden at Anholde derom som man har opspundet. – Jeg har ArbeideXVIII er su[n]d og tyk og befinder mig i min Huslige Kreds Løkkelig; men om den Sag en anden Gang. – Jeg har ikke opgivet Haabet om 2 Aar at være i NorgeXIX, og derfra maaske med KoneXX at gaae til Italien igien, og Da bringer jeg Dem et Landskab, som en liden GiendgieldXXI for Deres Umage med min BösteXXII, bliver Tid og Leilighed sænder jeg Dem det inden jeg selv kommer. Hils alle! Prof: BrøndstedXXIII, FreundXXIV, – C: Albert JensenXXV HillerupXXVI. MichelsenXXVII. PontopidanXXVIII, KokXXIX EcXXX: – og jeg beder Dem selv have mig i Deres Erindring som en oprigtig
uforanderlig Ven
Dahl
Dresden, August 28th 1821
Dear friend,
Although I now have little time to write letters I can not neglect to commend to you a young, gifted landscape painter Mr Gietslöv here from Dresden, who almost alone begins a journey to Rome. – Here he has already produced very good landscapes, and surely will, if he is not too fascinated by the modern dry, elaborate manner (which he seems to be inclined to). If possible I wish you to help him make acquaintances so that he may have opportunity to work (to earn a little) and to study. –
I have already been here more than 5 weeks and though this letter is the first I write to Rome, it will not be the first you will receive from me; as G travels slowly and will be about 4 months on his way. From another traveller Mr v Preüs, Lord of the Bedchamber, who is going to Italy in a couple of days you and my friends as well as other countrymen will be informed about my home journey and what has happened at my arrival here. – But I found my story about “the so often mentioned appointment”/kommentar/34645 here at the Academy in complications which have come about by intrigues, besides I do not take up any post for which I am paid, and will take care not to apply for one in the future, such as it has been made up.– I have work, am in good health and fat and enjoy domestic happiness; but more about this another time.– I have not given up the hope of being in Norway in 2 years, and from there perhaps with my wife to go to Italy again, and then I shall bring you a landscape as a small return for your pains over my bust, if I find the opportunity I shall send it to you, before I come myself. Give my regards to all! Professor Brøndsted, “Freund”/kommentar/34555, – “C. Albert Jensen””:/kommentar/34561 Hillerup. Michelsen. Pontopidan, Kok etc.– and I beg you to remember me as a
sincere, true friend,
Dahl.
[Translated by Karen Husum]
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J.C. Dahl, maj 1821, inv.nr. A229 |
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Indsejlingen til København, 1830, inv.nr. B187 |
Last updated 17.09.2018
I.e. the German landscape painter Carl Wilhelm Götzloff.
Dvs. næsten el. omtrent, jf. Ordbog over det danske Sprog.
Dvs. vil vist.
What “dry” and “elaborate” mean precisely remains an open question, but it is unquestionable that neoclassical painters like Jacques-Louis David and C.W. Eckersberg were more clear and rigorous in their works than the romantic Dahl. Dahl’s expressive approach to things appealed to Thorvaldsen, and both must have had a preference for a violent and temperamental description of nature – at any rate in painting.
Aubert finds another representative of the elaborate and dry in Thomas Fearnley. And in a letter dated 22.7.1822, Dahl mentions his own pupil Götzloff, whose paintings, after his journey to Italy, tended towards the dry and the stiff.
Cf. Andreas Aubert: Den Nordiske Naturfølelse og Professor Dahl, Kristiania 1894. p. 60-61 and p. 120-21.
Cf. Marie Lødrup Bang: Johan Christian Dahl – Life and Works, vol. 1, Oslo 1987, p. 123.
In Rome, Götzloff made the acquaintance of Johann Christian Reinhart, Joseph Anton Koch, Ludwig Richter (1803-1884) and Heinrich Reinhold. Thorvaldsen may have established the contact, but this cannot be documented.
I.e. in Dresden.
I.e. the German landscape painter Carl Wilhelm Götzloff.
I.e. the German court official Friedrich Heinrich Wilhelm von Preuß (17?? -18??).
Cf. Friedrich Noack: Das Deutschtum in Rom, vol. 2, Berlin and Leipzig 1927, p. 462.
Dvs. vil.
Dahl left Rome 27.6.1821.
Dahl arrived in Dresden 27.7.1821.
Cf. Marie Lødrup Bang: Johan Christian Dahl – Life and Works, Vol. 1, Oslo 1987, p. 19.
It appears that Dahl had been promised a post at the Academy of Fine Arts in Dresden but was not paid for his work there. In Dahl’s wording, one gets the impression that he has mentioned his frustration about this to Thorvaldsen before. Not until 1824 was Dahl given a permanent position as professor extraordinary at the Academy of Fine Arts in Dresden, cf. Bang, op. cit.
I.e. the Academy of Fine Arts in Dresden.
Dvs. sket.
Dvs. intriger eller lign., jf. Ordbog over det danske Sprog.
Dvs. embede eller erhverv, jf. Den Danske Ordbog.
Dvs. vil.
On his journey from Italy to Dresden, Dahl travelled through the Tyrol and made a number of sketches on the way. At the end of 1821, he produced a series of mountain landscape which were based on these scenes from the Tyrol. An example can be seen here:
Cf. Marie Lødrup Bang: Johan Christian Dahl – Life and Works, vol. 1, Oslo 1987, p. 65.
It may have been precisely this wish to return to Norway that then prevented the Academy of Fine Arts in Dresden from offering Dahl a permanent appointment. Moreover, Christian 8. was Dahl’s most important patron from the start, and he also planned to bring Dahl back to Denmark and get him an appointment at the Academy of Fine Arts, Copenhagen. Dahl was successful in many areas, but it seems that being “in good health and fat and happy” with his wife in Dresden was of greater importance.
Dahl did not return to Norway until 1826.
Cf. Petra Kuhlmann-Hodick: ˋEfter Københavneråreneˊ, in: William Gelius & Stig Miss (ed.): J.C. Dahl i Danmark, Copenhagen 2003, p. 55.
Cf. Marie Lødrup Bang: Johan Christian Dahl – Life and Works, vol. 1, Oslo 1987, p. 176-179.
On 12.6.1820, Dahl married the young German Dorothea Franzisca Friederike Emilie von Bloch (1801–1827).
Cf. Marie Lødrup Bang: ˋJohan Christian Dahlˊ, Norsk Biografisk Leksikon, 2009.
More than nine years were to pass before Thorvaldsen received the painting The Seaward Approach to Copenhagen, B187, which today is in Thorvaldsens Museum. See letter dated 26.2.1831, in which Thorvaldsen thanks Dahl for the painting.
I.e. Thorvaldsen’s portrait bust of Dahl, cf. A229. The bust is found in plaster in Thorvaldsens Museum, executed in May 1821, and in marble at KODE Arts Museums in Bergen. The bust was a present from Thorvaldsen.
I.e. the Danish archaeologist and philologist P.O. Brøndsted.
I.e. the Danish sculptor Hermann Ernst Freund.
I.e. the Danish painter C.A. Jensen.
I.e. the Danish writer F.C. Hillerup.
I.e. the Norwegian sculptor Hans Michelsen.
I.e. the Danish architect Simon Christian Pontoppidan.
I.e. the Danish architect Jørgen Hansen Koch.
“Ec.” er en forkortelse for etcetera, dvs. og så videre.