Bertel Thorvaldsen
Danish sculptor
1770 CE to 1844 CE
(Karl Albert) Bertel Thorvaldsen (ca.
1770 – 24 March 1844) is a Danish sculptor of international fame, who spends most of his life in Italy (from 1789–1838).
Thorvaldsen was born in Copenhagen into a Danish/Icelandic family of humble means, and is accepted to the Royal Academy of Arts when he is eleven years old.
Working part-time with his father, who is a wood carver, Thorvaldsen wins many honors and medals at the academy.
He is awarded a stipend to travel to Rome and continue his education.
In Rome Thorvaldsen quickly makes a name for himself as a sculptor.
Maintaining a large workshop in the city, he works in a heroic neo-classicist style.
His patrons reside all over Europe.
Upon his return to Denmark in 1838, Thorvaldsen is received as a national hero.
The Thorvaldsens Museum is erected to house his works next to Christiansborg Palace.
Thorvaldsen is buried within the courtyard of the museum.
In his time, he is 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 works are the statues of Nicolaus Copernicus and Jozef Poniatowski in Warsaw; the statue of Maximilian I in Munich; and the tomb monument of Pope Pius VII, the only work by a non-Italian in St. Peter's Basilica.
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A sign of renewed intellectual vigor is the introduction of compulsory schooling in 1814.
Literature, painting, sculpture, and philosophy all experience an unusually vibrant period.
The stories of Hans Christian Andersen (1805–1875) will became popular not only in Denmark, but all over Europe and in the United States.
The ideas of the philosopher Søren Kierkegaard (1813–1855) will spread far beyond Denmark, influencing not only his own era, but proving instrumental in the development of new philosophical systems after him.
The sculptures of Bertel Thorvaldsen (1770–1834) grace public buildings all over Denmark and other artists appreciated and copy his style.
N. F. S. Grundtvig (1783–1872) tries to reinvigorate the Danish National Church and contributes to the hymns used by the church in Denmark.
Bertel Thorvaldsen's statue of the resurrected Christ, commonly referred to as Thorvaldsen's Christus, has appealed to the members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a three point four meter eplica 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 had 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 had been granted a Royal stipend, enabling him to complete his studies in Rome, where he arrived on March 8, 1797.
Thorvaldsen's first success had been the model for a statue of Jason, 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 had been assured, and he did not leave Italy for sixteen years.
In 1819 he visited his native Denmark, where he had been 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.
Executed after his return to Rome, they are not completed until 1838, when Thorvaldsen returns to Denmark, hailed as a hero of the arts.