Thorvaldsen s Coin Collection In the Thorvaldsen Museum there are, in Rome, a keen collector of ancient coins. together with the artist’s other private At his death in 1809 he left behind him a collections, a considerable number of an­ considerable collection, which was sold by cient coins. According to the catalogue public auction in 1817.2 published in 1850, Thorvaldsen’s coin The auction catalogue comprises 3,776 collection contains 3,467 coins, the great­ coins, of which 523 were Greek. Among er part of which, 2,794 items, is made up these there is a series of beautiful silver of what is generally termed Greek coins, coins, mainly from Southern Italy and while the remaining 673 are Roman and Sicily. It is not unlikely that the first Byzantine. ancient coins Thorvaldsen became ac­ It is unfortunate that detailed research quainted with were selected specimens into Thorvaldsen’s relationship to ancient from Abildgaard s collection. coins is rendered impossible by the ab­ In March 1797 Thorvaldsen arrived in sence of archive material. We have no Rome, where he was to remain for more preserved bills or diary entries that can than 40 years. Here he met a new mentor give us an impression of the growth of the in the person of the archaeologist and collection. Nor, as far as is known, have numismatist Georg Zoega,3 who had been references to or comments on the collec­ living in Rome since 1783. For personal tion been found in Thorvaldsen’s corres­ reasons he had decided against returning pondence. One basic reason for this is to Denmark, where a position as the di­ that, presumably because of his lack of rector of “The Royal Cabinet of Coins and formal schooling, Thorvaldsen was an ex­ Medals” awaited him. Besides the ties of tremely reluctant letterwriter, who put his marriage to a young Roman girl and pen to paper only in cases of dire necessi­ his conversion to Catholicism, he was ty. I shall, therefore, in the following be bound to the city by the fact that only limited to a very general picture of some here, through his daily intercourse with of the people and circumstances that the numerous ancient monuments both in must, in all probability, have been of the streets and in the great art collections, importance for Thorvaldsen’s interest in could he achieve that profound under­ this aspect of antiquity.1 standing of ancient art that made him one It is generally recognized that the per­ of the founders of the science of ar­ son who meant most for the young Thor­ chaeology. valdsen’s artistic development was the Zoega had begun by specializing in painter Nicolai Abildgaard, who was a numismatics, and his important work on professor at the Academy. Abildgaard did Alexandrian coins was published in the drawings for a series of excellent med­ 1787.4 From 1799 until his death in 1809 als and was himself, as a result of his stay he was busily engaged in acquiring an­ 20 cient coins, both individual specimens the time that they spent together was and entire collections, for the Coin devoted to the presentation and discuss­ Cabinet in Copenhagen, where there was ion of newly acquired coins. an interest in expanding this paricular In 1823 Brøndsted left Rome. He was part of the collection, with the publication at this time much engaged in ensuring the of a scientific catalogue in view.0 It can, publication of his accounts of his Greek therefore, be assumed that Zoega, who in journey. Among the measures he took to general acted as the young Thorvaldsen’s raise money for this purpose one is of guide in the field of antique art, must particular interest for us. On May 26th, have extended his knowledge of ancient 1823, immediately before his departure numismatics. In this as in other areas he from Rome, Brøndsted borrowed 2,000 furnished Thorvaldsen with the cultural “Roman scudi from Thorvaldsen with education that the latter so sorely lacked.0 his coin collection and a few other effects However, the young artist’s extremely dif­ as security. In return for this considerable ficult financial circumstances during the sum, which corresponded to a reasonable first years of his stay in Rome can hardly middle-class income for a couple of years, have permitted him to collect antiquities Thorvaldsen received 1,756 Greek and to any significant extent. 555 Roman coins, the latter comprising 2 At Zoega’s death in 1809 Thorvaldsen gold, 100 silver and 453 bronze coins. lost his expert guidance, but by this time Furthermore, there was an unspecified his fame as a sculptor was already so number of duplicates of Greek and Ro­ established and his finances so much im­ man coins and a number of modern silver proved that he could begin as a collector, coins. The loan was to be repaid in instal­ an activity which, besides coins, included ments in the course of '"''about a year” .8 paintings, drawings, antiquities and This was not to be. Brøndsted had been books. In the year of Zoega’s death Thor­ somewhat optimistic in assessing his valdsen made the acquaintance of the chances of repaying the loan. While he young archaeologist P. O. Brøndsted, who was endeavouring in Paris and London to spent 1809-10 in Rome on his way to get his works published, the coins re­ Greece, where his great scholarly journey mained with Thorvaldsen in Rome. In a extended from 1810 to 1813. Brøndsted letter dated February 5th, 1825 Brønd­ had already begun to collect antiquities sted promised an instalment of 1,000 and coins, and his journey through Greece scudi to be paid “next May or at the latest led to considerable additions in his Greek June” . But in 1827 he had to report that series from the districts visited. The warm various difficulties with the English edi­ and friendly relations between Brøndsted tion owing to the bankruptcy of his first and Thorvaldsen were further strength­ publisher were responsible for the fact ened during the former’s stay in Rome that payment had not yet taken placed from 1819 to 1823, when he acted as the He now intended to pay in the near future Danish Representative at the Holy See. and added humorously: “Do take care of Their common interest in antiquities and my Greek coins, dear Thorvaldsen, that coins was a meeting ground for these two they should not be stolen from you. rather different personalities, and it is This was almost prophetic, for in probable that a considerable portion of March 1829 a number of coins disap­ 21 peared from Thorvaldsen’s apartment in vidual coin is wrapped in thin paper and Rome — and among them some of Brønd- the whole collection then rolled up into sted’s. The theft was, so to speak, cleared packages so that the transport does not up, but after the “unworthy person" who cause friction” . Later in the same letter was guilty had signed a statement to the Brøndsted promises to settle his account effect that the loss was due to his remiss­ with Thorvaldsen “partly in December ness and had assumed full financial re­ and partly in June the following year” . sponsibility, the case was hushed up. Un­ While these letters are friendly in tone, fortunately Thorvaldsen recovered only a a somewhat different note is sounded in part of the missing objects. One day a the last letter, which is dated August parcel was thrown through an open win­ 20th, 1833. Thorvaldsen has refused to dow into his apartment from the street. carry out the instructions he has received, An embarrassing circumstance for Thor­ maintaining that they arrived too late. valdsen was that among the missing coins Brøndsted tells him in so many words that there were still some of Brøndsted s.10 this is a pretext. He insists on having his In 1833 the Danish corvette Galathea books and manuscripts sent to Copen­ was to take some of Thorvaldsen’s works hagen, and of the coins he writes: “...I must back to Denmark. This led to a disagree­ point out that you have completely suffi­ ment between Brøndsted and Thorvald­ cient security for the two thousand scudi I sen. Although, after a period of 10 years, owe you in my lovely Greek coin collec­ no repayments had been made, the tion, of which I demand not one single former wished to have his coins sent to coin delivered before you, on your return, Copenhagen, where since 1832 his cir­ have received your money” . cumstances had been more settled as a It is not known what happened to result of his appointment as the Director Brøndsted s manuscripts, but the books of the Royal Cabinet of Coins and Medals. and the coins remained with Thorvaldsen Very naturally he wished to be able to use in Rome until he definitively returned to his collection for scholarly purposes. Denmark in 1838. One of the reasons for Three letters from Brøndsted to Thor­ Thorvaldsen’s stance in this affair, be­ valdsen on this matter have been pre­ sides purely financial considerations, may served.11 have been that Brøndsted’s collection was Writing from Paris on April 24th, 1833, not entirely complete after the above- Brøndsted mentions more or less en p ass­ mentioned burglary in 1829. ant that he would like to have a number In 1840 Thorvaldsen transferred his of books and manuscripts as well as his still unpaid claim on Brøndsted to the "beautiful Greek coin collection which “Committee for the Establishment of the you ..