Bertel Thorvaldsen
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bertel (in Italy: Alberto) Thorvaldsen
(
Danish pronunciation:
[b̥æɐ̯d̥l̩ ˈtˢɒːʋalˀsn̩]
; 19 November 1770 – 24 March 1844) was a Danish sculptor of international fame, who spent most of his life (1797–1838) in Italy. Thorvaldsen was born in
Copenhagen
into a Danish/Icelandic family of humble means, and was accepted to the
Royal Danish Academy of Art
when he was eleven years old. Working part-time with his father, who was a wood carver, Thorvaldsen won many honors and medals at the academy. He was awarded a
stipend
to travel to Rome and continue his education.
In Rome, Thorvaldsen quickly made a name for himself as a sculptor. Maintaining a large workshop in the city, he worked in a heroic
neo-classicist
style. His patrons resided all over Europe.
[1]
Upon his return to Denmark in 1838, Thorvaldsen was received as a national hero. The
Thorvaldsen Museum
was erected to house his works next to
Christiansborg Palace
. Thorvaldsen is buried within the courtyard of the museum. In his time, he was seen as the successor of master sculptor
Antonio Canova
. His strict adherence to classical norms has tended to estrange modern audiences. Among his more famous public monuments are the statues of
Nicolaus Copernicus
and
Józef Poniatowski
in
Warsaw
; the statue of
Maximilian I
in
Munich
; and the tomb monument of
Pope Pius VII
, the only work by a non-catholic in
St. Peter's Basilica
.
Biography
Self-portrait by Thorvaldsen while he was a student at the Royal Academy of Arts
Thorvaldsen was born in
Copenhagen
in 1770 (according to some accounts, in 1768), the son of Gottskálk Þorvaldsson, an
Icelander
who had settled in Denmark. His father was a wood-carver at a ship yard, where he made decorative carvings for large ships and was the early source of influence on his son Bertel's development as a sculptor and on his choice of career. Thorvaldsen's mother was Karen Dagnes, a
Jutlandic
peasant girl. His birth certificate and baptismal records have never been found, and the only record is of his confirmation in 1787.
[2]
Thorvaldsen had claimed descent from
Snorri Thorfinnsson
, the first European born in
America
.
Childhood and education
Thorvaldsen's childhood in Copenhagen was humble. His father had a drinking habit that slowed his career.
Nothing is known of Thorvaldsen's early schooling, and he may have been schooled entirely at home. He never became good at writing, and he never acquired much of the knowledge of fine culture that was expected from an artist.
In 1781, by the help of some friends, eleven-year-old Thorvaldsen was admitted to Copenhagen's
Royal Danish Academy of Art
(
Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi
) first as a draftsman, and from 1786 at the modeling school. At night he would help his father in the wood carving. Among his professors were
Nicolai Abildgaard
and
Johannes Wiedewelt
, who are both likely influences for his later neo-classicist style.
At the Academy he was highly praised for his works and won all the prizes from the small Silver Medal to the large Gold Medal for a relief of
St. Peter
healing the crippled beggar in 1793. As a consequence, he was granted a Royal stipend, enabling him to complete his studies in Rome. Leaving Copenhagen on August 30 on the
frigate
Thetis
, he landed in
Palermo
in January 1797 traveled to
Naples
where he studied for a month before making his entry to Rome on 8 March 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.
In Rome
A portrait of Thorvaldsen, by
Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg
In Rome he lived at Via Sistina in front of the
Spanish Steps
and had his workshop in the stables of the
Palazzo Barberini
. He was taken under the wing of
Georg Zoëga
a Danish archeologist and
numismatist
living in Rome. Zoëga took an interest in seeing to it that the young Thorvaldsen acquired an appreciation of the antique arts. As a frequent guest at Zoëga's house he met Anna Maria von Uhden, born Magnani. She had worked in Zoëga's house as a maid and had married a German archeologist. She became Thorvaldsen's mistress and left her husband in 1803. In 1813 she gave birth to a daughter, Elisa Thorvaldsen.
Thorvaldsen also studied with another Dane,
Asmus Jacob Carstens
whose handling of classic themes became a source of inspiration. Thorvaldsen's first success was the model for a statue of
Jason
; finished in 1801 it was highly praised by
Antonio Canova
, the most popular sculptor in the city. But the work was slow in selling and his stipend having run out, he planned his return to Denmark. In 1803, as he was set to leave Rome, he received the commission to execute the Jason in marble from
Thomas Hope
, a wealthy English art-patron. From that time Thorvaldsen's success was assured, and he did not leave Italy for sixteen years.
The marble Jason was not finished until 25 years later, as Thorvaldsen quickly became a busy man. Also in 1803, he started work on
Achilles and Briseïs
his first classically themed relief. I 1804 he finished
Dance of the Muses at Helicon
and a group statue of
Amor and Psyche
and other important early works such as
Apollo, Bacchus og Ganymedes
. During 1805 he had to expand his workshop and enlist the help of several assistants. These assistants undertook most of the marble cutting, and the master limited himself to doing the sketches and finishing touches. Commissioned by
Ludwig I of Bavaria
in 1808 and finished in 1832 a statue of
Adonis
is one of the few works in marble carved solely by Thorvaldsen's own hand, and at the same time it is one of the works that is closest to the antique Greek ideals.
In the spring of 1818 Thorvaldsen fell ill, and during his convalescence he was nursed by the Scottish lady Miss Frances Mackenzie. Thorvaldsen proposed to her on March 29, 1819, but the engagement was cancelled after a month. Thorvaldsen had fallen in love with another woman: Fanny Caspers. Torn between Mackenzie and Anna Maria Von Uhden the mother of his daughter, Thorvaldsen never succeeded in making Miss Caspers his wife.
Return
Contemporary painting by
Fritz Westphal
of Thorvaldsen's reception as a national hero on his return to Denmark in 1838.
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 until 1838, when Thorvaldsen returned with his works to Denmark, being received as a hero.
Death
Towards the end of 1843 he was prohibited from working for medical reasons, but he began to work again in January 1844. His last composition from 24 March was a sketch for a statue of the
genie
in chalk on a blackboard. At night he had dinner with his friends
Adam Oehlenschläger
and
H. C. Andersen
, and he is said to have referred to the finished museum saying: "Now I can die whenever it is time, because
Bindesbøll
has finished my tomb."
After the meal he went to the
Copenhagen Royal Theatre
where he died suddenly from a
heart attack
.
[7]
He had bequeathed a great part of his fortune for the building and endowment of a museum in Copenhagen, and left instructions to fill it with all his collection of works of art and the models for all his sculptures, a 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 wish.
Works
Bertel Thorvaldsen with the Bust of Horace Vernet, painted by
Horace Vernet
(1789–1863)
Thorvaldsen was an outstanding representative of the
Neoclassical
period in sculpture. In fact, his work was often compared to that of
Antonio Canova
and he became the foremost artist in the field after Canova's death in 1822. The poses and expressions of his figures are much more stiff and formal than those of Canova's. Thorvaldsen embodied the style of classical Greek art more than the Italian artist, he believed that only through the imitation of classical art pieces, could one become a truly great artist.
Motifs for his works (reliefs, statues, and busts) were drawn mostly from
Greek mythology
, as well as works of classic art and literature. He created portraits of important personalities, as in his statue of
Pope Pius VII
. Thorvaldsen's statue of Pope Pius VII is found in the Clementine Chapel in the Vatican, for which he was the only non-Italian artist to ever have been commissioned to produce a piece. Unfortunately because he was not a catholic but a Protestant, the church did not allow him to sign his work. This led to the story of Thorvaldsen sculpting his own face on to the shoulders of the Pope, however any comparison between Thorvaldsen's portrait and the sculpture will show that this is just a fanciful story built on some smaller similarities.
A
Daguerreotype
of Bertel Thorvaldsen (1840), one of the first photos taken in Denmark
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: an
equestrian statue
of Prince
Józef Poniatowski
that now stands before the
Presidential Palace
; and the seated
Nicolaus Copernicus
, before the
Polish Academy of Sciences
building—both located on Warsaw's
Krakowskie Przedmieście
. A replica of the Copernicus statue was cast in bronze and installed in 1973 on Chicago's lakefront along Solidarity Drive in the city's
Museum Campus
.
A statue of
Johannes Gutenberg
by Thorvaldsen can be seen in
Mainz
, Germany.
Museums and collections
Thorvaldsens Museum
Cupid, from Thorvaldsens Museum
The
Thorvaldsen Museum
is the museum in
Copenhagen
,
Denmark
where Bertel Thorvaldsen's works are displayed. The museum is located on the small island of
Slotsholmen
in central Copenhagen next to
Christiansborg Palace
. Designed by
Michael Gottlieb Bindesbøll
, this building was constructed from public collection funds in 1837. The museum displays a collection of the artist's works in marble as well as plaster, including the original plaster models used in the making of cast bronze and marble statues and reliefs, copies of those works that are on display in museums, churches, and at other locations around the world.
The museum also features Bertel Thorvaldsen's personal collection of paintings, Greek and Roman sculptures, drawings, and prints the artist collected during his lifetime, as well as personal belongings he used in his work and everyday life.
Thorvaldsens Museum
Outside Europe, Thorvaldsen is less well known.
[11]
However, in 1896 an American textbook writer wrote that his statue of the
resurrected
Christ
, commonly referred to as
Thorvaldsen's Christus
(created for
Vor Frue Kirke
), was "considered the most perfect statue of Christ in the world."
[6]
The statue has appealed to the members of
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saintsand a 3.4 m replica is on display at
Temple Square
in Salt Lake City, Utah. There is also a replica of this statue in the LDS visitor centers at the
Mesa Arizona Temple
, the
Laie Hawaii Temple
, the
México City México Temple
, the
Los Angeles California Temple
, the
Portland Oregon Temple
, the
Washington D.C. Temple
, and the
Hamilton New Zealand Temple
. Additionally, the LDS Church uses images of the statue in official church media, such as the Internet site
LDS.org
.
Additional replicas of the
Christus
include a full size replica at the
Johns Hopkins Hospital
in Baltimore, Maryland within its iconic dome,
and a full-sized copy in bronze at the Ben H. Powell III family plot in Oakwood Cemetery in Huntsville, Texas as a memorial to the Powell's son Rawley.
Thorvaldsen's
Christus
was recreated in
Lego
by parishioners of a Swedish
Protestant
church in
Västerås
and unveiled on
Easter Sunday
2009.
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 had the ability to work in monumental size. Thorvaldsen's classicism was strict; nevertheless his contemporaries saw his art as the ideal, although afterwards art took new directions
A bronze copy of Thorvaldsen's
Self-Portrait
stands in
Central Park
, New York, near the East 97 Street entrance.
