Letter from Thayer to J.S. Dwight, Trieste, July 7, 1872 (M2B015b)
Transcription:
Consulate of the United States of America
Trieste, July 7, 1872My dear Dwight,
Last spring I received a letter from an old acquaintance in Berlin in relation to a portrait of Händel, which he believed to be by Sir Godfrey Kueller. I wrote him that I desired some proofs of this fact, and [crossed out: some account] of the goodness of the portrait.
I have at length received his reply, in which he states, that Prof. Magnus, Herrmann Grimm & Joachim (who knows all the English portraits) all agree that it is “ein portrait ersten Ranges, von sprechende Ähnlichkeit, und von einem bedeutenden Künstler in das von mir angegehenen Zeit gemalt, wenn auch nicht definitive festgestallt ist von Kueller.”
Now comes the question: Are your musical people, willing to risk a subscription of $500, to secure this, on no better proof of the value of the picture than this? I will subscribe $10. towards it, for the [crossed out: Music] H. Mus. Association, or for any public institution. I have so much faith in my correspondent as to do this.
Whether the picture will still to be had by the time I can receive a reply, is a question but such articles do not find ready sale at high prices in this part of the world.
My third volume advances slowly owing to much “bad head.”
Yours truly
A.W. Thayer
