Bertel Thorvaldsen

Bertel Thorvaldsen [ ˌ bɛɐ̯dl̩ tɔɐ̯vælsn̩ ] ( born November 19, 1770 in Copenhagen, † March 24, 1844 ) was a Danish sculptor, who despite his long stay in Rome as one of the artistic protagonists of the Golden Age in Denmark.

Life

Thorvaldsen was the son of the Icelandic woodcarver Gotskalk Thorvaldsen and his wife Karen Dagnes. Some sources mention as the birthplace of a ship between Iceland and Copenhagen, others Copenhagen. After initial art education by the father Thorvaldsen was the age of eleven pupils of the free school of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen. There he was mainly taught by Nicolai Abraham Abildgaard. 1787 Thorvaldsen was honored for his achievements in modeling with a small silver medal and two years later, awarded him the Great Silver Medal for his relief Resting cupid. Due to the award of Thorvaldsen's The Expulsion of Heliodorus relief from the temple in 1791, the Minister Count Christian Frederik Reventlow became aware of him and gave him the necessary financial means to continue their studies.

1793 Thorvaldsen's relief was The Apostles Peter and John heal a lame man with a big gold medal awarded. Connected with this award was a three-year travel grant for Rome. Since he had already adopted several orders, his departure was delayed by three years. In the years 1793 and 1796, he gave private lessons in drawing; but completed in the main, several statues for the palace of the Crown Prince Frederik at the Amalienborg Palace. Moreover, at this time have been developed also busts of the politician Count Andreas Peter von Bernstorff and the writer Tyge Rothe.

On August 29, 1796 Thorvaldsen was finally able to start on his journey to Rome, which he reached on March 8, 1797, interrupted by stays in Malta and Naples. This day celebrated Thorvaldsen later than its Roman birthday and called there " Sculptore Alberto ". Soon after his arrival in Rome he made ​​the acquaintance of the archaeologist Georg Zoega, who supported him in the study of antiquity and in time became his mentor. Asmus Jacob Carstens The painter supported Thorvaldsen in his first time. 1797 referred Thorvaldsen his first studio in the Via Babuino 119 where previously the English sculptor John Flaxman had worked.

When, shortly before the end of the scholarship Thorvaldsen his Bacchus and Ariadne Academy of Art in Copenhagen sent these approved a two-year extension to 1802 again for another year. The years 1801-1803 were marked for Thorvaldsen poverty and political unrest. At that time he became acquainted with the Saxon court sculptor Franz Pettrich know. When, in March 1803 Thorvaldsen wanted to travel together with the Berlin sculptor Carl Friedrich Hagemann to Copenhagen, the departure was delayed by a few days. During this time Thorvaldsen made ​​the acquaintance with the English banker and collector Thomas Hope, who spontaneously gave a Jason marble commissioned after a visit to his studio. A first version had already been destroyed Thorvaldsen; Although a second was received with great praise by Georg Zoega and Antonio Canova, but did not like the artist. But various circumstances delayed the work and only in 1828 was Thorvaldsen send the artwork to Hope to Britain.

In May 1805, the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen Thorvaldsen appointed to a full member and in the same year, the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna honored him with an honorary membership. During this time he got some government contracts of Napoleon Bonaparte, who in 1809 commissioned a Thorwaldsen drawn up in Thorn monument in honor of Nicolaus Copernicus. Some work took over after the fall of Napoleon, the patron and collector Count Giovanni Battista Sommariva for his residence on Lake Como. The frieze The triumphal procession of Alexander the Great in Babylon was in 1829 one more time for the Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen and was stung by Samuel Amsler congenial in copper.

A creative crisis mastered Thorvaldsen in 1815 by retired for some time after Monte Nero at Livorno. But even in the self-chosen seclusion he was an artist. In the following years he created some of his finest works. On October 3, 1818 Thorvaldsen returned to Copenhagen, where he was professor of model class at the Academy of Fine Arts. The following year he was appointed Privy Councillor Danish - rather an honorary title as a political office. In August 1820, he left his hometown again and traveled through Germany, Poland and Austria to Italy.

There his major works, including a monument to Nicolaus Copernicus made ​​of bronze, which was commissioned in 1809 for the birthplace Thorn, but was 1829/1830 situated at the Krakowskie Przedmieście in Warsaw emerged. When Cardinal Ercole Consalvi to let go of Thorvaldsen embellish his sarcophagus, the Vatican was aware of him. Although an avowed Protestant, the Secretary of State Cardinal Consalvi 1823 entrusted him with grave monument of Pope Pius VII, which was also set up in 1830 in the Cappella Clementina St. Peter's Basilica.

1838 Thorvaldsen took another trip to his native Denmark and was received with all possible honors. Again, he had several jobs from: among other things he created busts of Ludvig Holberg, Adam Oehlenschläger and Henrich Steffens and at the request of the royal family also of himself in May 1841 Thorvaldsen returned to Rome, there to do some already agreed jobs. In October 1842 he returned to Copenhagen.

On March 24, 1844 Thorvaldsen broke during a theatrical performance in Copenhagen suddenly collapsed and died on the same day at the age of 73 years. He was never married, but he left a daughter. For executors his hometown Copenhagen was used. The heritage was associated with the commitment to create a building for a museum. The city commissioned the renowned architect Gottlieb Bindesbøll, who designed the Thorvaldsen Museum and built. It was designed in classicizing style and was inaugurated in 1846. In the region enclosed by four sides courtyard of this museum Thorvaldsen found in a simple unadorned grave his final resting place.

Almost throughout his work themed Thorvaldsen mythological figures he usually idealized, but also with quiet humor, represented in its simplicity. The importance of his work clearly lies in the revival of the idyll of ancient art.

Among his students Herman Wilhelm Bissen, Hermann Ernst Freund, Emil Wolff, Ludwig Schwanthalerstraße, Eduard Schmidt of Launitz, Max Heinrich Imhof, John Gibson, Pietro Tenerani, Luigi Bienaimé and Wolf von Hoyer.

Medal portraits

Thorvaldsen was also interested in the ancient numismatics. After his death, his collection went from 3467 coins, of which 2 794 Greek and 673 Roman / Byzantine in the possession of his museum. Approximately 1000 pieces of inferior preservation were auctioned in 1866 in Copenhagen. Thorvaldsen's portrait was immortalized on about 20 medals. Below are some examples:

Works (selection)

Copernicus Monument in Warsaw by Thorvaldsen

Equestrian statue of Elector Maximilian I on the Wittelsbacherplatz in Munich

Schiller monument in Stuttgart

Head of a warrior, about 1812-18, Neue Pinakothek Munich

Venus, Mars and Vulcan, 1810, Neue Pinakothek Munich

Christ, Church of Our Lady, Copenhagen

Lifting

Lion Monument in Lucerne

Honors

Roads:

• In Munich there is a Thorwaldsenstraße in St. Benno - quarter ( Maxvorstadt).
• In 1953 in Vienna Meidling ( 12th district ) was named the Thorvaldsengasse after him.
• The Piazza Thorvaldsen in Rome is named after Thorvaldsen.
• Also in Wiesbaden, the capital of Hesse, is a road that Thorwaldsenanlage, named after him.
• In Berlin, two streets were named after him.
• In Ludwigshafen Thorwaldsenstraße was named after him.