Danish Legend in Italy Bertel Thorvaldsen Royal Norway Academy of Art medal
300gr by Famous Harald Salomon. 19 November 1770 - 24 March 1844 was a Danish. Sculptor of international fame and medallist. 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 made a name for himself as a sculptor. Maintaining a large workshop in the city, he worked in a heroic neo-classicist.
His patrons resided all over Europe. Upon his return to Denmark in 1838, Thorvaldsen was received as a national hero. 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.
The statue of Maximilian I. And the tomb monument of Pope Pius VII. The only work by a non-Catholic in St.N 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.
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. 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. 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. 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. 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. In 1803, as he was set to leave Rome, he received the commission to execute the Jason in marble from Thomas Hope.
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 Cupid 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. 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. 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.
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. 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 he is said to have referred to the finished museum saying: Now I can die whenever it is time, because Bindesbøll. After the meal he went to the Copenhagen Royal Theatre. Where he died suddenly from a heart attack. 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.
Of Bertel Thorvaldsen (1840), one of the first photos taken in Denmark. Bertel Thorvaldsen with the Bust of Horace Vernet, painted by Horace Vernet.Thorwaldsen's Gutenberg Denkmal in Mainz on an 1840 medal of the printing press. Thorvaldsen was an outstanding representative of the Neoclassical. 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. Because he was a Protestant and not a Catholic, 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. His works can be seen in many European countries, especially in the Thorvaldsen Museum.
In Copenhagen, where his tomb is in the inner courtyard. This monument commemorates the sacrifice of more than six hundred Swiss Guards. Who died defending the Tuileries. 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.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 Przedmiescie. 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. By Thorvaldsen can be seen in Mainz. Is the museum in Copenhagen. 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. Outside Europe, Thorvaldsen is less well known. However, in 1896 an American textbook writer wrote that his statue of the resurrected. Commonly referred to as Thorvaldsen's Christus. Created for Vor Frue Kirke. , was considered the most perfect statue of Christ in the world. The statue has appealed to the members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And 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 México City México Temple. The Los Angeles California Temple.
And the Hamilton New Zealand Temple. 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. And unveiled on Easter Sunday. Thorvaldsen's primary mastery was his feel for the rhythm of lines and movements. Nearly all his sculptures can be viewed from any chosen 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.Copies exist throughout the world. Christus draft (discolored by sculpting-room fireplace), Thorvaldsen Museum. With the Golden Fleece, Thorvaldsen's first masterpiece.
Waters Zeus as an Eagle, Thorvaldsen Museum. Tomb monument to Pope Pius VII.Possibly Lady Georgiana Bingham, carved c. This item is in the category "Coins & Paper Money\Exonumia\Medals". The seller is "top-art-medals" and is located in this country: IL. This item can be shipped worldwide.