To the Cavalier Thorwaldsen,
My dear Sir,
I had hoped to have the pleasure of painting your portrait, (for which you were so good as to consent to sit,) before I left Rome for Naples, but the weather is becoming so oppressively warm, and there being a party of friends about to travel the same road, I have consented to join them, and hope to return to Rome in September or October; I, therefore, beg you will allow me, then to claim the fulfilment of your kind promise.
What a barrier, my dear Sir, is difference of language to social intercourse! I never felt the curse that befel the architects of Babel so sensibly as now, since as one of the effects of their folly I am debarred from the gratification and instruction I had promised myself in being known to you. –
With the greatest respect
| July 5th. 1830 | Y. Mo. ob. servr. | ||
| via de’ Prefetti | Sam. F. B. Morse. – | No. 17. |