Present edition 2006-2011:

Between 2006 and 2011, the task will be proceeding in Thorvaldsens Museum of commenting, editing and publishing over 5000 letters from and to Bertel Thorvaldsen. The publication encompasses letters and documents in Bertel Thorvaldsen’s archives in Thorvaldsens Museum and also letters relating to Thorvaldsen that have been preserved in other archives. In the period up to 2011, the material will be published continuously on the Internet, and a large part of it will be subject to constant editing during this period.

Principal editors:

Inge Lise Mogensen Bech (ILM), mag.art., art historian
Ernst Jonas Bencard (EJB), mag.art., art historian
Kira Kofoed (KK), mag.art., art historian

Student assistants:

Sofie Olesdatter Bastiansen (SOB), art history (2009 ff.)
Malte Blas (MB), history and communication (2010-2011)
Peter Hovmand (PH), comparative literature (2010-2011)
Maria Jørgensen (MJ), comparative literature (2008-2010)
Marie-Louise Gelså Kirkelund (MLK), modern culture and cultural communication (2008-2009)
Kirstine Reffstrup (KR), comparative literature and art history (2007-08)

Transcription

A large amount of documents at Thorvaldsens Museum have been transcribed during 2010-2011 by the following:
Lasse Jonas Bendtsen, cand.mag., history
Laura Bjerrum, cand.mag., history and art history
Birgit Christensen, mag.art., nordic philology
Bjørn Westerbeek Dahl, librarian
Ole Jorn, cand.mag., ph.d., Italian
Giulia Longo, cand.mag., ph.d., philosophy
Alberto Manai, ph.d., Italian

See also the How to Use the Archives and the article on The History of the Letter Archives for further details on the contents of the database, the early history of the project and earlier contributors. See also under Acknowledgements for details of support for the project by other persons. On the copyright for the texts in the Letter Archives and conditions for quoting from them, see Copyright.

Earlier Contributors:

The persons listed below have all contributed to collecting, registering, transcribing, commenting etc. at some earlier stage. Their work has resulted in an extensive fund of knowledge, which is essential also for the present editors’ work. The contributors are divided below into three periods: the earliest contributors (from Thorvaldsen’s time until 1932), contributors connected with the earlier publication project (1932-1963) and preparatory work for the present publication project (1996-2006). The contributor’s possible relation to Thorvaldsens Museum (THM) is indicated after the contributors’ name:

Contributors prior to 1932
Contributor	Period	Contribution
J.M. Thiele, author	1826-1874	Collection of materials, the discovery of a large number of letters in Rome, sorting and marking of letters with serial numbers and dates, transcription, personal and art-historical comments, indexes
Andreas Christian Schumacher, pattern maker custodian in THM 1896-1919	1896-1919	Arranging the letters in folders, index of letters and card index
Peter Johansen, art historian	1897-1899	Drawing up of chronological list of the contents of the letter archives
Andreas Røder, art historian, acting curator at THM 1915-1916	1897-1899	Assistant to Peter Johansen in drawing up the chronological list of the contents of the letter archives
L. Laursen, archive secretary	1899	Assistant to Peter Johansen in drawing up the chronological list of the contents of the letter archives
Mario Krohn, art historian, director of THM 1916-1921	1916-1921	Contribution includes reading through memoirs etc. in search of references to Thorvaldsen, collecting materials relevant to Thorvaldsen’s reception in his own time, establishing a card index with huge numbers of notes on everything concerning Thorvaldsen’s life and work
Emil Hannover, art historian	Ca. 1916-1921	Presumably assisting Mario Krohn in establishing card index of Thorvaldsen literature
D.E. Ruggaard, philologist	1922	Transcription of Thorvaldsen’s diary from 1797
Vilhelm Marstrand, engineer	1923	Fair copy of the above

Contributors to the earlier publication project 1937-1963
Contributor	Period	Contribution
Sigurd Schultz, art historian director of THM 1932-1963	1932-1963	Initiator of the project
Louis Bobé, historiographer of the orders of chivalry	1937	Co-initiator of the project
Torben Juel, university student of art history, student assistant at THM 1935-1936	ca. 1935-1937	Transcription and translation
Else Kai Sass, art historian, student assistant 1937-1945 and curator in THM 1945-1954	1937-1954	Extensive art-historical commentaries
Øjvind Andreasen, philologist	1937-1956	Collection of materials, extensive transcription, biographical commentaries, registers
Meir Stein, art historian	1939-1943, 1945 og 1954-1956	Art-historical commentaries
Ingeborg Stemann, lecturer	1952	Translation of Polish literature concerning Thorvaldsen
Romana Heltberg, lecturer	1952	Translation of Polish literature concerning Thorvaldsen
Dyveke Helsted, art historian, curator in THM, 1963-1989, director of THM	1954-1974	Art-historical commentaries

Preparatory work for the present publication project 1996-2006
Contributor	Period	Contribution
Stig Miss, art historian, director of THM, 1989-	1996 ff.	Responsible for the project
Jens Keld, philologist	1996-2001	Collection of material, transcription and collation of over 4000 letters, biographical commentaries, registers
Margrethe Floryan, art historian, curator in THM 1995 ff.	1996-2004	Collection of material from European and American archives, preliminary examination of Russian correspondence
Margherita Merello Thomsen	1999	Transcription of parts of the Italian correspondence in the letter archives in collaboration with Jens Keld
Salvatore Brogaard, art teacher	2001	Adviser on parts of the Italian correspondence in the letter archives in collaboration with Jens Keld
Jørgen Korsgaard-Pedersen, ambassador	2001	Adviser on parts of the French correspondence in the letter archives in collaboration with Jens Keld
Ernst Jonas Bencard, art historian, senior research fellow in THM	2004 ff.	Preliminary examination of the earliest, mainly Danish correspondence, fundraising, project leader from 2006 onwards

Translation by Glyn Jones

Last updated 25.09.2011