The statue which I have just mentioned was erected at the expense of the Polish nation, by means of a subscription, and 40,000 florins being still required to defray the cost, the deficit was made up by the Abbe Staszic, a learned Minister of State, from his private fortune. - Eugène Plon: Thorvaldsen: his life and works, R. Bentley and Son, 1874 p. 71