Verso la creazione di una «piccola collezione»: marchand-amateurs e antiquari nei carteggi di Bertel Thorvaldsen
Sara Tonni
This contribution considers the role of Bertel Thorvaldsen (Copenhagen, 1770-1844) in a perspective that has not yet been adequately investigated, that is as a collector of Italian Old Masters paintings. The paper intends to focus on the relationships maintained by the Danish sculptor with collectors and amateurs, art dealers and artists from all over Europe in the Roman cultural milieu of the early Nineteenth century. Starting from the information that emerges from the rich personal archive of the artist, preserved in Copenhagen, and other private archives, it is possible to reconstruct his network. These relationships allowed Thorvaldsen, about ten years after his arrival in Rome, to create his collection of Italian paintings in a time, first the Napoleonic era and then the Restoration, marked by the placing of a massive quantity of artworks on the Roman market square.