The project is well known within the Danish museum world, but is also acknowledged internationally for developing a user-friendly digital archive format and conducting qualified research studies into the original sources. The rich historical material about the neoclassical sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen currently includes more than 9,700 documents – from commission contracts and professional correspondence to writings from contemporary newspapers, poems written in the artist’s honour, love letters and Thorvaldsen’s personal correspondence with his family and fellow artists.

Open public access
The extensive source material is publicly available on the project website arkivet.thorvaldsensmuseum.dk/en. This open access policy is a deliberate choice by the museum that is in line with the museum’s history.

‘Thorvaldsens Museum was Denmark’s first public museum building, donated to the people by the artist himself in reflection of a democratic ideal,’ says the newly appointed director of the museum, Annette Johansen, who adds, ‘That is also why it is so essential to make the museum’s vast store of source material available as an open resource. The ambition of public access has always played a central role at Thorvaldsens Museum.’

Primary Sources in Danish Art History
The grant from the New Carlsberg Foundation for research into Thorvaldsen’s archives is part of the digitization project Primary Sources in Danish Art History, PSiDAH, which was initiated by the foundation in autumn 2015. Many artists have left letters, journals and other written materials behind that offer an intriguing insight into the working process and the thoughts behind the artist’s practices. With PSiDAH, the New Carlsberg Foundation aims to preserve these sources and make them available in digital form.

Substantial grants
In addition to the grant from the New Carlsberg Foundation, the research project Bertel Thorvaldsen – kilder og kontekst has received support from the Novo Nordisk Foundation, Augustinus Fonden, Aage og Johanne Louis-Hansens Fond, Beckett-Fonden and 15. Juni Fonden.

With grants from the six foundations totalling DKK 8.7 million, the future of the museum’s special research unit is secured for a considerable period of about four years; this brings the project close to full funding and its goal of continuing its activities until 2021.