Everything about Bertel Thorvaldsen totally explained
(Albert) Bertel Thorvaldsen (
November 19,
1770 -
March 24,
1844) was a
Danish/
Icelandic
sculptor.
Biography
Thorvaldsen was born in
Copenhagen in
1770 (according to some accounts, in
1768), the son of an
Icelander who had settled in Denmark and there carried on the trade of a wood-carver. This account is disputed by some Icelanders, who claim Thorvaldsen was born in Iceland.
Young Thorvaldsen attended Copenhagen's
Royal Danish Academy of Art (
Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi), winning all the prizes including the large Gold Medal. As a consequence, he was granted a Royal stipend, enabling him to complete his studies in
Rome, where he arrived on
March 8,
1797. Since the date of his birth had never been recorded, he celebrated this day as his "Roman birthday" for the rest of his life.
Thorvaldsen's first success was the model for a statue of
Jason, which was highly praised by
Antonio Canova, the most popular sculptor in the city. In 1803 he received the commission to execute it in marble from
Thomas Hope, a wealthy
English art-patron. From that time Thorvaldsen's success was assured, and he didn't leave Italy for sixteen years.
In
1819 he visited his native Denmark. Here he was commissioned to make the colossal series of statues of
Christ and the twelve
Apostles for the rebuilding of
Vor Frue Kirke (from 1922 known as the Copenhagen Cathedral) between
1817 and
1829, after its having been destroyed in the
British bombardment of Copenhagen in
1807. These were executed after his return to Rome, and were not completed till 1838, when Thorvaldsen returned to Denmark, being received as a hero.
He died suddenly in the Copenhagen Royal Theatre on
March 24,
1844, and bequeathed a great part of his fortune for the building and endowment of a museum in Copenhagen, and also left to fill it all his collection of works of art and the models for all his sculptures very large collection, exhibited to the greatest possible advantage. Thorvaldsen is buried in the courtyard of this museum, under a bed of roses, by his own special wish.
Works
Thorvaldsen was an outstanding representative of the
Neoclassical period in
sculpture. He was often compared to
Antonio Canova, but in fact he embodied the style of classical
Greek art more than the Italian artist. The poses and expressions of his figures are much more stiff and formal than those of Canova's.
Motifs for his works (reliefs, statues, and busts) were drawn mostly from
Greek mythology, but he also created portraits of important personalities, as in his statue of
Pope Pius VII. His works can be seen in many European countries, especially in the
Thorvaldsen Museum
in Copenhagen, where his tomb is in the inner courtyard. Thorvaldsen's
Lion Monument (1819) is in
Lucerne,
Switzerland. This monument commemorates the sacrifice of more than six hundred
Swiss Guards who died defending the
Tuileries during the
French Revolution. The monument portrays a dying lion lying across broken symbols of the French monarchy.
Thorvaldsen produced some striking and affecting
statues of historic figures, including two in
Warsaw,
Poland: the seated
Nicolaus Copernicus, before the
Polish Academy of Sciences building, and the
equestrian statue of
Prince Józef Poniatowski that now stands before the
Presidential Palace, both located on Warsaw's
Krakowskie Przedmieście.
Mainz,
Germany, has Thorvaldsen's statue of
Johannes Gutenberg.
Part of Thorvaldsen's work is informed by a pronounced classicist sensibility, traditionally encoded in European art in the myth of
Zeus and
Ganymede. Illustrative are his
Eros, several versions of
Ganymede, the
Shepherd Boy with Dog, and his bas relief of
Hylas and the Nymphs, depicting a shapely
Hylas terrified of the nubile nymphs embracing him.
Outside Europe, Thorvaldsen is less well known (but see the important paper by Dimmick below). Additionally, his statue of the
resurrected Christ, commonly referred to as
Thorvaldsen's Christus (created for what is now the
Lutheran Cathedral in Copenhagen,) has appealed to the members of
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (External Link) and a 3.4 m replica is on display at
Temple Square and images of the statue are used in official church media, such as the internet site LDS.org.
Thorvaldsen's primary mastery was his feel for the rhythm of lines and movements. Nearly all his sculptures can be viewed from whatever angle without compromise of their impact. In addition, he'd the ability to work in monumental size. Thorvaldsen's classicicsm was strict; nevertheless his contemporaries saw his art as the ideal, although afterwards art took new directions. In short, he's the greatest of the neo-classicist sculptors -- more strict a classicist than Sergel but far greater an artist than Canova.
A bronze copy of Thorvaldsen's
Self-Portrait stands in
Central Park,
New York, near the East 97 Street entrance.
Further Information
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