Bertel Thorvaldsen.
Canova remained the model for every sculptor of ambition
for most of the nineteenth century. Yet the Napoleonic era was not a
propitious one for sculptors who wanted to be like him: independent,
beholden to no single patron, free to create "modern classics." The only
one who succeeded, and the sculptor on whom Canova's mantle ultimately
descended, was
Bertel Thorvaldsen (1770-1844),
a Dane who came to Rome in
1797 on a scholarship from the
Royal Academy in Copenhagen. Although he established his reputation early, he had to live through some difficult years before
he could feel artistically and financially secure.
Thorvaldsen became the first to revive the most heroic phase of Greek
art, but soon underwent a basic change not only of style but of outlook.
His
Venus with Apple (fig. 918)
is closer to a living model than to any ancient source,
though its immediate precedent is a statue by Houdon. Thorvaldsen shows
her in a moment of triumph, holding the golden apple awarded by Paris in
the beauty contest that started the Trojan War, yet she contemplates the
apple in a way that might lead us to mistake her for an Eve tempted,
were it not for the garment in her left hand. The statue shows
Thorvaldsen's new emphasis on poetic sentiment, as well as his
reawakened religious feeling, which he shared with the young German
painters in Rome known as the Nazarenes, many of whom were his friends. Thus his
Venus is far more Romantic than Neoclassic, despite its style.
For all of Europe except France and Spain, Thorvaldsen remained the
model of sculptural perfection until the 1850s. Germans, Scandinavians,
and many Italians viewed him as more "truly Greek" than Canova, and for
the English he became the heir of John Flaxman as well.
918.
Bertel Thorvaldsen.
Venus with Apple.
1813-16. Marble, litesize. Thorvaldsens Museum, Copenhagen
918.
Bertel Thorvaldsen.
Venus with Apple.
918.
Bertel Thorvaldsen.
Venus with Apple.
Bertel Thorvaldsen.
Venus
Marble
Private collection
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Bertel
Thorvaldsen
Bertel Thorvaldsen, Thorvaldsen also spelled Thorwaldsen
(born Nov. 19, 1770, or Nov. 13, 1768, Copenhagen, Den.—died
March 24, 1844, Copenhagen), sculptor, prominent in the
Neoclassical period, who was the first internationally
acclaimed Danish artist. Prominent in Roman intellectual and
artistic circles, he influenced many emerging artists from
Europe and the United States.
Thorvaldsen was the son of an Icelandic wood-carver who
had settled in Denmark. He studied at the Copenhagen Academy
and won a traveling scholarship to Rome, where he was to
live most of his life. In Italy the prevailing enthusiasm
for classical sculpture fired his imagination so much that
he later celebrated the date of his arrival in 1797 as his
“Roman birthday.” The success of Thorvaldsen’s model for a
statue of Jason (1803) attracted the attention of the
Italian sculptor Antonio Canova and launched Thorvaldsen on
one of the most successful careers of the 19th century. When
he returned to visit Copenhagen in 1819, his progress
through Europe, in Berlin, Warsaw, and Vienna, was like a
triumphal procession. His return from Rome in 1838, when he
eventually decided to settle in Copenhagen, was regarded as
a national event in Danish history. A large portion of his
fortune went to the endowment of a Neoclassical museum in
Copenhagen (begun in 1839), designed to house his collection
of works of art, the models for all his sculptures; by his
own wish, Thorvaldsen was to be buried there.
Most of Thorvaldsen’s most characteristic sculptures are
reinterpretations of the figures or themes of classical
antiquity. The Alexander frieze of 1812 in the Palazzo del
Quirinale, Rome, modeled in only three months in
anticipation of a visit by Napoleon, is an example of the
feverish energy with which he could at times work. Religious
sculptures include the colossal series of statues of Christ
and the Twelve Apostles (1821–27) in the Vor Frue Kirke in
Copenhagen. He also made numerous portrait busts of
distinguished contemporaries.
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Bertel Thorvaldsen.
Adonis
1808-32
Marble, height 182 cm
Neue Pinakothek, Munich
Bertel Thorvaldsen.
Ganymede Waters Zeus as an Eagle
1817
Marble, height 93,5 cm
Thorvaldsens Museum, Copenhagen
Bertel Thorvaldsen.
Hebe
1806
Marble, height 156 cm
Thorvaldsens Museum, Copenhagen
Bertel Thorvaldsen.
Jason with the Golden Fleece
1803-28
Marble, height 242 cm
Thorvaldsens Museum, Copenhagen
Bertel Thorvaldsen.
Mercury Preparing to Kill Argus
1818
Marble, height 174 cm
Thorvaldsens Museum, Copenhagen
Bertel Thorvaldsen.
Shepherd Boy
1800s
Marble
Thorvaldsens Museum, Copenhagen
Bertel Thorvaldsen.
The Three Graces with Cupid
1817-18
Marble, height 172 cm
Thorvaldsens Museum, Copenhagen
Bertel Thorvaldsen.
The Three Graces with Cupid (detail)
Bertel Thorvaldsen.
The Three Graces with Cupid (detail)
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