Bertel Thorvaldsen
Danish Sculptor (1770-1844)
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Bertel Thorvaldsen -- his
birth name being Albert -- was a Danish sculptor, born in Copenhagen, as the son
of an Icelandic woodcarver. He was educated at the Copenhagen Academy of Fine
Arts and in 1797 went to Italy to study classical sculpture. He lived in
Rome until 1838, becoming a leading figure in the Neo-Classical movement
there.
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Denmark 1938. Bertel
Thorvaldsen, engraved after a painting by the Danish painter C.V. Eckersberg.
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Denmark 1970. Bertel
Thorvaldsen, commemorating his 200th birth anniversary, engraved by Czeslaw
Slania after a composition by Connie Linck.
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| Thorvaldsen remained unmarried, but had two children by
the Italian lady Anna Maria Magnani; a son Carlo Alberti (1806-1811), and a
daughter Elisa (1813-1846).
While living in Italy he adapted the Italian
form of his first name, Alberto, as shown on the vignette to the right,
clearly inspired by the German Renaissance painter Albrecht Durer.
He became professor at the Royal Danish
Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen 1805, and Director of the Academy
1833-1844. Further he was professor at the St. Luca Academy in Rome 1812,
Vice-President 1826, and President 1827-1828.
- Thorvaldsen's signature, clearly
inspired by Albrecht Durer, on a vignette from a Danish sheetlet, issued
2003 (see the stamp below on this page).
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Bertel Thorvaldsen's fame was so
great that he was often portrayed by foreign painters. An example (left) of this is the
Russian painter Orest Kiprensky's portrait of Thorvaldsen, painted
1833. The painting belongs to The Russian Museum, St. Petersburg,
Russia.
To the right a painting of
Thorvaldsen by the Danish neo-classical painter C.V. Eckersberg, who also did the
painting on which the stamp top left is based.
In Rome Thorvaldsen enjoyed
considerable patronage; so great was the demand for his work that, by 1820, he
was employing 40 assistants to help fulfill commissions. Temporarily returning
to Copenhagen the same year, he began work on planning the decorative scheme of
marble statues and reliefs for the new church of Our Lady, now the Cathedral of
Copenhagen. |
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Only the figure of
Christ and of St Paul were carved by Thorvaldsen, the others being made by
assistants after models by the master. He had his artistic
breakthrough with his famous statue "Janus", sculpted 1803, and
belonging to the Thorvaldsen Museum in Copenhagen.
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Denmark 1938. Janus
Statue by Bertel Thorvaldsen. The stamp, together with the stamp top
left, were issued in commemoration of the centenary of Thorvaldsen's return
to Copenhagen, and his nomination as Citizen of Honour. These stamps were
the first art stamps issued in Denmark.
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Denmark 1938. War cover (censored mail)
from the Faeroe Islands, which at that time used Danish stamps.
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Denmark 2003. Europa
Stamp. Janus Statue at the Thorvaldsen Museum, Copenhagen. The
stamp displays a poster for the museum, photographed by Ole Woldbye, and
engraved by Lars Sjööblom.
Besides these pieces, his most
famous works are allegorical reliefs and statues of classical subjects, such as
Cupid and Psyche (1807, Thorvaldsen Museum, Copenhagen). He also sculpted
the Tomb of Pope Pius VII (1824-1831, St Peter's Basilica, Rome).
One of his most well-known sculptures is "The Lion of
Lucerne". The figure is created on the
wall of an earlier lime stone mine, and commemorates allegorically the
destruction of the Swiss Guard at the storm of the Tuileries in Paris
1792, depicted in The Dying Lion. The Latin inscription commemorates
the military persons, officers and soldiers, who fell in the battle.
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Switzerland 1926. Pro Juventute. The Lion of Lucerne.
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The celebrated outdoor Lion of
Lucerne (1819-1821, in Switzerland.
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Nicaragua 1947. Lion on Ruben Dario's Tomb. Copy of the Lion of
Lucerne.
A large number of his works are found throughout the world, both original and
copies. Here are a few examples, as depicted on postage stamps.
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Iceland 1975. Christmas Label commemorating the 100th anniversary of the
Icelandic Thorvaldsen Society. The sculptor's father was from Iceland. The
label has no postal value.
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Iceland 1975. Postage stamp commemorating the 100th anniversary of the
Icelandic Thorvaldsen Society.
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Germany 1947 - Rheinland-Pfalz: The Gutenberg Memorial in Mainz, Germany. Note
that this stamp also exists in the value of 75 pf (blue).
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Italy 1959. Lord Byron, sculpted by Thorvaldsen.
The Polish capital, Warsaw, has two works by Thorvaldsen; the
astronomer Nicholas Copernicus, and the Poniatowski-statue. The latter was
destroyed in 1944 because of the bombings of Warsaw. The original statue has
been replaced by a bronze copy, paid partly by the Danish state and partly by
the municipality of Copenhagen.
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Poland 1956. The Poniatowski-statue in Warsaw sculpted by
Thorvaldsen
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Poland 1945. An imperforate stamp showing on the left half
(1939) the military headquarters with the Poniatowski-statue in
front of it, and on the right half (1945) the demolished building
and the vanished statue. Note, that perforated samples of the
stamps from this set of six are known, but the perforations are
likely to have been made privately.
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Poland 1955. The statue of the astronomer Nicholas Copernicus in
Warsaw, sculpted by Thorvaldsen. The stamp is engraved by
Czeslaw Slania.
The Thorvaldsen Museum
in
Copenhagen, built (1839-1848) in neo-classical style, contains a collection of sculptures by the
artist, among others "The Three Graces" and
"Venus", both of which have inspired many painters and
sculptors for their version of these antique figures. In 1951 Denmark issued a
banknote of 5,00 kroner, depicting a portrait of Thorvaldsen on the left,
and "The Three Graces" on the right of the obverse side. This banknote is no
longer legal tender.
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Relief by Thorvaldsen: "The Three Graces".
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Denmark 1951-61. Front of Danish 5-kr. banknote.
Pick # 42. The reverse side depicts the Church of Kalundborg, Denmark
(romanesque architecture).
Thorvaldsen and his works were
much appreciated by the Russian Czar Court, and he was assigned to make a number
of sculptures for the princely collections. Three of them are today
housed by The Hermitage Museum in St.
Petersburg (Russia).
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Countess Elizabeth
Ostermann-Tolstaya, sculpted 1815.
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Czar Alexander I,
sculpted after 1820.
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The Shepherd, sculpted
after 1820.
After Canova's death, Bertel Thorvaldsen inherited his position as Europe's leading sculptor. His many international commissions sustained strict neoclassicism as the dominant mode in sculpture until the mid-19th century. Thorvaldsen's legacy is universal, carried to the United States by one of his friends, Horatio
Greenough, and was continued by Hiram Powers, an American long resident in
Italy. Sources and links:
A neo-classical painter on this site:
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