SSSiiiiisSSi^lSi ^U A A^ A Z000Mi vO g ^ iv/ y V y ^ V ‘v»-v.v<>“^“!;^:i ^ V vV y VVu w ’^1 ' V| Jy ^ 1 * fr / f * ‘ • • • ♦ I* i I » 9 I } ! ■I ■ t A ■» ■ >1 S » »» d '3 ?‘;i ,1 ;'r' i 0 # '• - . I J # ■ THORVALDSEN HIS LIFE AND WORKS. Digitized by the internet Archive in 2017 with funding from Getty Research Institute https://archive.org/details/thorvaldsenhisliOOplon_0 T H 0 K Y A L IJ S 15 N : HIS LIFE AND WORKS. RV EUGENE ELON, l llANsr.A TKII in' MKS. CASHEL HOEY. ILLUSTRATED BY THIRTY-NINE ENGRAVINGS ON STEEL AND WOOD bonbon ; IIICHARI) IVENTLEY AND SDN, rnBLISIlEIiS IN OEDINAUY To llEU iMA.I E.S'L'V. 1874 . Ldsnox ; R. CLAY, suss, AND TAYLOR. rKINTEUS, BREAD .STREET HILL. P ll EFACR The present ^A"Ol■k is a translation from JM. Peon’s interesting Life of the great Danish Sculptor M. Plon has added to its value by a complete Catalogue of Thorvaldsen’s Works, and the Life is now first offered to the English people, rendered into English by Mrs. Cashel Hoey, Avhose faithful and spirited translations from the French are already known to the public. It is hoped that this Life of an artist who exercised so wide an influence over sculptors of every nationality during his residence in Rome will be Avelcomed in this country. THE PUBLISHER. London, ^ovemher, 1873 . CONTENTS. PART I. THE LIFE OF THORVALDSEN. CHAPTER 1. THE BIRTH OF THORVALDSEN. — THE CIIILD’s NATURAL TALENT FOR SCULPTURE. — HIS STUDIES AT THE ACADEMY OF COPENHAGEN. — HIS EARLY SUCCESSES. — HIS DEPARTURE FOR ITALY. — IIIS JOURNEY. — HIS ARRIVAL AT ROME CHAPTEK II. THORVALDSEN AND THE ANTIQUES. —ZoiiGA. — PECUNIARY DIFFICULTIES. — SICKLY STATE. — POLITICAL TROUBLES. —MR. HOPE AND THE JASON.— ANNA MARIA.— THE ABDUCTION OF BEISEIS CHAPTER III. BARON HUMBOLDT. — RAUCH — THE “ TWO HEBES.”— THE “TRIUMPH OF ALEXANDER.” — THE GRAND DUCHESS OF TUSCANY. — BARONESS SCHUBART. — “ MORNING.” — “ NIGHT.” — THE “ VENUS.” — THE MARBLES OF EGINA. — BYRON. — “ HOPE,” — PRINCESS BARY'ATINSKA. — “ MERCURY.” — “ THE THREE GRACES ” . CHAPTER IV. MISS MACKENZIE OF SEAFORTH — THORVALDSEN’S ILLNESS. — HIS SOJOUR.N AT ALBANO. — HIS RECOVERY. — AN EXCURSION TO NAPLES. — A VIENNESE LADY. — QUARRELS. — HIS DEPARTURE FOR DENMARK CHAPTER V. THE LION OF LUCERNE. — RECEPTION BY THE ACADEMY OF COPENHAGEN. — THE TRUE KIRKE. — JOURNEY TO GERMANY. — THE EMPEROR ALEXANDER. — MONUMENTS TO COPERNICUS, PRINCE PONIATOWSKI, PRINCE POTOCKI. — RETURN TO ROME CONTENTS. viii CHAPTER VI. ' p < •; i; THE PRINCE-ROYAL OF DENMARK. — PRINCE LOUIS OF BAVARIA. — TIIOPVALDSEN’s “CHRIST AND THE APOSTLES.” — HIS “ SERMON OF ST. JOHN.” — CONSALVI. — POPE PIUS VII. — THE CABAL OF INTOLERANCE. — LEO XII. — THORVALDSEN BECOMES PRESIDENT OF THE ACADEMY OF SAINT LUKE CHAPTER VII. ATTACKS UPON THORVALDSEN ABOUT THE TOMB OF APPIANI. — MONUMENTS TO PRINCE SCHWARZENBERG AND THE DUKE OF LEUCHTENBERG. — THE KING OF B.WARIA AT ROME.' — THE GRAND-DUCHESS HELENA. — MARI E-LOUI.^^F,.— BUST OF NAPOLEON. — MEDALS STOLEN FROM THORVALDSEN’S COI.LECTON. — JOURNEY TO MUNICH. — BARTOLINI . . . • • !*:’ CHAPTER VIII. HORACE VERNET. — MENDELSSOHN. — TROUBLES AT ROME. — THORVALDSEN’S STUDIO AND GARDEN. — ROMAN SOCIETY. — THE “HISTORY OF LOVE.” MONUMENT TO BYRON. — WALTER SCOTT. — “ ADONIS.” — THE STATUE OF MAXIMILIAN I. — MONUMENTS TO GUTENBERG AND SCHILLER. DEPARTURE OF VERNET. — THE CHOLERA. — THORVALDSEN RETURNS TO DENMARK K'-.") CHAPTER IX. Thorvaldsen’s arrival at Copenhagen. — the danes celebrate his return. — HE INST.ILS HIMSELF AT THE CHARLOTTENBORG PALACE. — THE CHURCH OF NOTRE DAME. — THE OLD MAN’s PARSIMONY AND GENEROSITY. — M. THIELE 12.") CHAPTER X. n.\RON VON STAMPE AND HIS FAMILY. — THORVALDSEN AT NYSO. — HIS STUDIO AT STAMPEBORG. — HIS STATUE MODELLED BY' HIMSELF. — “ THE ENTRY OF JESUS INTO JERUSALEM.” — “tHE WAY TO CALVARY.” — THE POET ANDERSEN. — THORVALDSEN INY'ESTED WITH THE ORDER OF THE GRAND CROSS OF THE DANEBROG. — KING CHRISTIAN VIII. — STATUE OF CHRISTIAN IV. — WILKENS . 137 CHAPTER XI. DEPARTURE FOR ROME. — RECEPTIONS AT BERLIN, DRESDEN, LEIPZIG, FRANKFORT, MAYENCE, AND STUTTGART. — FETE AT MUNICH. — THE “ GESELLSCHAFT DIE ZWANGLOSEN.” — VISIT TO KING LOUIS — SOJOURN AT ROME. — RETURN TO DENM.YRK. — THE ARTIST AND HIS MUSEUM. — THE “GENIUS OF SCULPTURE.” — DEATH OF THORVALDSEN. — HIS OBSEQUIES 153 CONTENTS. ix PART II. THE WORKS OF THORVALDSEN. CHAPTER I. I’AdE THK INFLUENCE OF THE FREXCII SCHOOL, FROM THE TIME OF LOULS XIV., OX THE PROGRESS OF THE ARTS IN DENMARK. — THE ACADEMY OF THE FIXE ARTS AT COPENHAGEN. — THjE REVIVAL IN ITALY, UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF M-INCKELMANN IfiT CHAPTER II. THE THEORIES OF IVINCKELMANN AND THORVALDSEN. — FIGURES OF STRENGTH : “ .JASON,” “ MERCURY,” “ VULCAN,” “ HERCULES.” — FIGURES OF YOUTH : “BACCHUS,” “GANYMEDE,” “ LOVE,” “ APOLLO,” “ ADONIS.” — FIGURES OF GODDESSES I “ VENUS,” “ THE THREE GRACES,” “ PSYCHE,” “ HEBE.” — THE STATUE OF “ THE YOUNG DANCER,” AND THAT OF “ HOPE.” — THE .EGINETAN MARBLES 177 CHAPTER III. HEROIC AND MYTHOLOGICAL BAS-RELIEFS. — ANACREONTIC SUBJECTS. — “ THE SHEPHERDESS WITH THE NEST OP LOVES.” — “ THE FOUR AGES OF LOVE ” . 189 CHAPTER IV. THORVALDSEN AS A CHRISTIAN SCULPTOR. — “ CHRIST AND THE TWELVE APOSTLES.” —THE FRIEZES. — THE FRONT OF THE FRUE KIRKE AT COPENHAGEN. — FUNERE.VL MONUMENTS . 199 CHAPTER V. THE artist’s rapidity OF CONCEPTION. — HIS SEVERE JUDGMENT OF IIIS OWN WORKS. — HIS FIRST IMPULSES TEMPERED BY REFLECTION. — HIS CREATIVE GENIUS. — CANOVA. — BARTOLINI. — MADAME DE STAEL’s MISTAKE. — THE SCAN- DINAVIAN GENIUS OF THORVALDSEN IN ITS APPLICATION OF GREEK ART . . 2U7 h CATALOGUE OE THORVALDSEN’S WORKS. EELIGIOUS WORKS 217 I. Statues and Groups 217 II. Bas-Reliefs 222 1. Old Testament Subjects • 222 2. New Testament Subjects 223 3. Figures of Angels and Symbols 22S III. Funeral Monuments 230 PUBLIC AND COMMEMORATIVE MONUMENTS ......... 239 MYTHOLOGICAL AND HEROIC SUBJECTS 24.7 I. Groups and Statues 24.7 11. Bas-Reliefs 254 1. Mythological Subjects 254 2. Heroic Subjects ' 271 ALLEGORICAL COMPOSITIONS 276 PORTRAITS ■ 2S1 I. Statues 9si 11. Busts 9553 III. Medallions 999 VARIOUS SUBJECTS 293 I. Statues 293 II. Bas-Reliefs 294 LIST OP ILLUSTRATIONS. COPPERPLATE ENGRAVINGS. Vents Fronfispiece to Fort J . ^Iercurt Fronfispirre to Fori FI. WOODCUTS INTRODUCED INTO THE TEXT. PAGE A Gexio Lumen Hope .... Morning . . . Jason .... 3 I I 3 I 21 21 Night 27 Cupid and Pstche 37 The Nest of Loves 57 Love Triumphant 57 The Ages of Love 65 The Lion of Lucerne .... 65 Vulcan Forging the Arrow's of Love 75 Bacchus 75 Horses from the Frieze, “ The Triumph of Alexander” . . 93 Ganymede 93 Love reviving Psyche .... 105 The Little Dancer 105 Love TN'iTH Anacreon 125 The Three Graces 125 W INTER Thorvaldsen The Genius of Death .... The Angel of Baptism .... Figure from the Frieze “ The Triumph op Alexander ” . . Psyche Achilles and Priam Adonis Portion of the Frieze “ The Triumph of Alexander ” . . Hebe Rebekaii and Eleazer .... Christ . . . . The Arms of Achilles . . . . Apo llo Pan and a Young Satyr . . . Love and Bacchus Princess Baryatinska .... PAOK 137 137 153 153 167 167 177 177 189 189 199 199 207 207 239 246 281 . Titk-pwjc 217 Portrait of Thorvaldsen by Horace Vernet The Thorvaldsen Museum at Copenhagen . ■ ' i5"‘. •r / ■’1 ■ f ^ 0 tX:- i. fE LIFE OF THORVALDSEN. PART I. w ■'A' ! i 'A V F. N n s CHAPTER 1. THE BIRTH OF THORVALDSEN. — THE CHILD S NATURAL TALENT FOR SCULPTURE.— HIS STUDIES AT THE ACADEM? OF COPENHAGEN. — HIS EARLY SUCCESSES. — HIS DEPARTURE FOR ITALY.— HIS JOURNEY. — HIS ARRIVAL AT ROME. When some yours have elapsed after the death of a great artist, — when jealousies have subsided and a just balance has been struck between the admiration of one party and the depreciation of another, — it becomes the duty of his contemporaries to collect the facts of the career of the celebrated man whose memory survives among those with whom he lived. The important services rendered by Vasari to the history of art, in the biographies which he bequeathed to us, are ampl}" recog- nized. Far from contemplating so extensive a task, I have restricted myself to the study of the life and the labours of one artist only ; but within this circumscribed area 1 have made exhaustive researches. I have col- lected from persons who had known the great sculptor, and from all who were acquainted with any particulars of his individual history, or of his works, everything, even to the B 4 LIFE OF THORVALDSEN. smallest details, with the hope that the documents thus pro- cured and arranged may at some future time be useful to those who shall write the history of the arts during the period in which Thorvaldsen lived. Moreover, every great man possesses an indi- vidual physiognomy, an original character which merits attentive study, apart and distinct from the products of his genius. The sculptor whose history I am about to relate, whose works I am about to describe, played a considerable part in the great movement of revival which commenced' with Mengs and Winc- kelmann, and was developed during the later years of the eighteenth, and the first half of the nineteenth century, by David, Canova, and Bartolini. According to the learned Danish annalists, Thorvaldsen’s descent was as ancient as it was illustrious. His genealogy is traced from the eighth century ; for, according to the tables, the known ancestors of the artist were descended from Harald Hildetand, king of Denmark, who had been forced by civil wars to abandon his country, and who took refuge in Norway in the first instance, and ultimately in Iceland, where one of his descendants, Olaf Paa (or the peacock), became a powerful chief, renowned in the sagas of Landbl, and sung l)y the bards, who praised his generosity and his taste for the arts. Olaf Paa, who lived in the twelfth century, was himself a sculptor in wood, and in his day enjoyed great renown. His name is still known in the North land. After an interval of seven centuries, Olaf lives once more in the person of Thorvaldsen. This remote origin is by no means so legendary as might be supposed, for Iceland is the classic land of genealogies, and such as reach back only to the eighth century are not supposed by the learned men of the North to be disputable. However that may be, it is certain that in the fourteenth century there resided in southern Iceland a rich man named Odd Petersen, who was held in high consideration in the country, and whose family and descendants have almost all occupied honourable positions in the Icelandic magistrature. One of them, Thorvald Gottskalksen, pastor of M}’klabye, having but small means, sent his two sons to Copenhagen. The eldest, Ari, who was apprenticed to a HIS BIRTH. 5 goldsmith, died young. The second, Gottskalk, who had some skill in wood-carving, found employment in the shipbuilders’ workshops. In his twenty-seventh year he married, and he it was who became the father of the celebrated sculptor. There is a difference of opinion respecting the date of Bartho- lomew or Bertel Thorvaldsen’s birth. Some biographers assign it to 1771, others to 1772. The artist himself always said that he was born in 1770, and that date is adopted by Thiele, his Danish biographer. There is also a contention about his birth- place, which has been variously assigned to Iceland, Copenhagen, and the high seas ; for it has been said that he was born during his mother’s voyage from Rejkjavick to Copenhagen. The latter is a romantic version of the event, but it is incorrect. The artist’s friend and biographer has stated to me that Thorvaldsen was born November 19, 1770, at Copenhagen, in a house which M. Thiele and I visited together. He was christened Bartholomew, but was always called by the Danish diminutive, Bertel, by his parents and his playmates ; and even in his old age his friends called him by the familiar name under which he had become popular. The Italians turned ‘ Bertel ’ into ‘ Alberto,’ and the artist was always known to foreigners in Italian society under this borrowed name. His father, Gottskalk Thorvaldsen, was a poor journey- man wood-carver ; his mother, Karen Gronlund, was the daughter of a Jutlander peasant. The artistic capacity of Gottskalk went no farther than the carving of rude figure-heads for merchant ships. His labours barely maintained his family in a humble way, but they gave its bent to Bertel’s mind. While still a child he helped his father, and carved wood, after a fashion. Old carpenters, who were living until within a few years ago, could perfectly recall that pretty child with fair hair and blue eyes, who came to look for his hither in the timber-yards upon the quays at Copenhagen, and who was a general favourite. Bertel was of a gentle and timid disposition. The poet Andersen, who was one of the most intimate friends of his later years, relates the following anecdote of his childhood. He was playing one day with some other boys of his age in the great square at Copenhagen, which is adorned by the 6 LIFE OF THORVALDSEN. equestrian statue of Christian V. treading under foot the demon of Envy, a somewhat affected work of the sculptor Abraham Caesar L’Amoureux, which dates from 1688. His companions having missed him for a while, found him in absorbed contem- plation of this statue, and, half with, half against his consent, they hoisted him up on the horse, and having done this, they ran away. The poor child, in utter confusion, sat there as motionless as the royal rider, presenting an absurd spectacle, perched upon the rearing steed in his red cotton cap. But the gendarmes came up, and, after the fashion of gendarmes, carried off, not the authors, but the victim of the trick to the police office. The little Bertel had a. precocious talent for sculpture. Although his father was entirely devoid of all artistic education, he had the wisdom to cultivate assiduously the capacity which his son displayed in a direction eminently pleasing to his paternal feelings. No doubt the worthy artisan did not foresee the great destiny contained in the future for Thorvaldsen, but his good sense suggested that the son might do better than the father if .he were taught drawing. The child was therefore sent, at twelve years old, to the free school of the Eoyal Academy of Fine Arts, and in the space of two years he made such marked progress that he was soon able to render valuable aid to his father, whose work was thenceforward remarkable for greater correctness in form and for intelligence of design. The young artist brought his dawning lights to bear upon the labour of the artisan. Bertel did not exhibit equal aptitude for the other branches of study. He was backward in all that did not directly concern the object of his vocation. During the six years which he passed at the school of Charlottenborg, he displayed so little zeal for learning that Hoyer, the chaplain, put him in the lowest form of the catechetical class when the period of First Communion arrived, regarding him as almost devoid of the most elementary knowledge. But at the same time the distribution of the Academy prizes took place, and Bertel obtained the small silver medal as a reward for his diligence and application. The Copenhagen journals mentioned the circumstance, and the name of the decorated pupil was observed by the chaplain, who said NATURAL TALENT FOR' SCULPTURE. 7 to his pupil, “ Thorvaldsen, is it your brother who has just carried off a prize at the Academy ? ” The school-boy reddened, drew himself up, and replied, “No, sir, it is I." The chaplain, accustomed to regard Bertel as an unpromising pupil, was much astonished by this revelation, and immediately changed his tone : “Mr. Thorvaldsen,” said he, “you will go up immediately to the first rank.” At the word “ Mr.” the boy was deeply moved. Thenceforth the chaplain invariably used this formula, which made a distinct place in the class for Bertel, who was so touched by it, that the impression remained graven upon his memory. AVhen he had reached an advanced age, was surrounded with all the consideration ever enjoyed by any artist, overwhelmed with honours, the great sculptor often said to his friends, when his thoughts returned to the days of his youth, that he had never tasted the sweetness of fame so fully as on the day when it first made his school-boy heart leap within his breast. Thorvaldsen was sixteen years old (1787) when he achieved this first success, which, far from inspiring him with an exagge- rated idea of his merits, only led him to work with greater ardour. He was calm, serious, and reserved ; he spoke little and seldom, and it was in vain that his companions endeavoured to distract his attention when he, pencil in hand, had applied himself to study. I have said that his father intended him to become a workman at his own trade. The young man yielded readily to his guidance, and frequently, when he had carried the artisan's dinner to the workshop, Bertel, while his father ate, would take up his tools and finish, correcting it the while, the figure he was at work upon. Two years later (1789) he again carried off a prize, receiving the large silver medal for a bas-relief. Love in repose. Then Gottskalk was of opinion that his son was sufficiently instructed to devote himself completely to his destined career. Bertel was well disposed to conform to his father’s wishes, but the painter Abildgaard, who had directed the young artist’s studies at the Academy, had observed that he possessed qualities too valuable to be expended upon an employment so little worthy of his talents. He had conceived a sincere affection for Thorvaldsen, and while 8 LIFE OF THOEVALDSEN. his companions pressed Bertel to remain with them, the professor went to confer with Gottskalk. They had some difficulty in coming to an agreement. The father had hoped, by keeping him with himself, to secure to his son a humble occupation indeed, but one by which he should have a certainty of being able to earn an honest livelihood. A more elevated career, in which Bertel must necessarily be separated from his father, appeared to the simple tender-hearted man, to be the unknown with all its direst dangers. It was ultimately decided that the young man should divide his time into two nearly equal portions, one to be reserved for the academic studies which were to nourish his artistic instincts with the strong food of solid knowledge, the other to be devoted to the labour by which bread was to be earned. He lived with his parents in a little house at Aabenraa, and continued to fulfil the wishes of both his father and Abildgaard. At this period of his life he carved the large wooden clock, which was bequeathed some years ago to the Thorvaldsen IMuseum, and which is now placed in the hall that contains the sculptor’s furniture. Bertel worked with his father at the shield, with the arms of Denmark, which is placed above the door of the Eoyal Apothecaries’ Hall. A more artistic work which they executed conjointly for the castle of Fredericksborg, the summer residence of the sovereign, consists of the four lions placed around the space before the garden entrance. From this time forth Bertel sketched bas-reliefs, and cut embossed figures in atone. His first work worthy of mention is a medallion of the Princess of Denmark, done in 1790, from a bad painting ; for the young artist had barely caught a glimpse of the princess as she passed by. Nevertheless, the portrait was very successful, and the likeness was so striking that the moulder who purchased the model struck off a very large number of casts, Thorvaldsen generally worked from the designs of other artists, especially from those of his master, Abildgaard. A woman holding a telescope, on the front of a house near the Custom House, was executed from a drawing by the painter Nicolas Wolff. HIS STUDIES AT THE ACADEMY. 9 The most trifliog attempts of every great artist are worth noting, because they are the gropiiigs of a mind which is feeling its way. This is my reason for enumerating some of the works of the young sculptor which would not otherwise deserve to be placed in the long catalogue of his achievements. In fact, Love in repose, which is now placed in the underground gallery of the INIuseum, is only the production of a talented student. The Academy possesses the other bas-reliefs which won for Thorvaldsen his earliest rewards. The first was Heliodorus driven from the Temple. Thorvaldsen and his young friends prepared for the compe- tition simultaneously. They met for this purpose once a v/eek, and practised themselves in the coniposition of subjects taken chiefly from the Old and New Testaments. Whilst his comrades disputed and discussed, Thorvaldsen, always less disposed to speech than to action, would be already modelling his clay, or his bread crumb, and before the others had found the solution of the problem, he had finished his model. This was a characteristic indication of the bent of the mind of the artist, who all his life applied rather than discussed the theories which he approved. We shall see that he has left no written record of his feeling in matters of art ; nothing in his letters, of which he was always a most sparing writer, leads to the supposition that he ever troubled himself with the exposition of principles. He has translated his ideas into marble, and it is with the chisel, never with the pen, that he has given expression to the strength of his convictions. At the epoch with which I am now dealing, he was far from feeling that he was master of himself. The natural shyness of his disposition led him to doubt his own strength, and he did not hesitate to acknowledge to his fellow-students that the approaching competition inspired him with dread. At length he became an object of ridicule and raillery upon the subject. Nevertheless, on the 1st June, 1791, he presented himself with the others, and, the subject being sent in, went into the candidates’ box. But no sooner was he installed there than he was seized with terror, and escaped by a private staircase. Just as he was running 10 LIFE OF THORVALDSEN. away he was met by one of the professors, who gently reprimanded him, and, by a few encouraging words, induced him to return to the box. The young man, a little shame-faced, obeyed, and set to work with so much zeal and application that in four hours he finished the sketch of Heliodorus driven out of the Temple, which won him the small gold medal. On examining this work at the present time, it is difiicult to understand how Thorvaldsen can have been its author, so utterly out of harmony with the great sculptor s later work are both its qualities and its defects. But it is a common thing for the masters of an art to begin with following the traditions of a school. Inexperience and youth forbid them to do otherwise, and it is only when they have attracted attention by some work in accord- ance with the taste of the day, that, strengthened by their first success, they rid themselves of leading-strings, and walk freely in their own paths. In the Heliodorus, the composition lacks sobriety ; the scene is confused, the personages do not look free and natural ; but the work is in conformity with the ideas of the time, and its execution indicates sufficient talent to have attracted the attention of his contemporaries to the young artist. The Minister of State, M. Detier de Eeventlow, noticed this bas-relief, and ordered it to be moulded. He assured Thorvaldsen that he possessed the real artistic quality, and placed his name at the head of a subscription list organized by Wolflf in order to procure the necessary leisure for the young sculptor to admit of his pursuing his studies. It was desired that he should apply his dawning talent to subjects of pagan antiquity ; and he then composed Priam demanding from Achilles the body of Hector. At a later date Thorvaldsen again treated the same subject, and in a wholly different tone. It is curious to compare the essay of his youth with the masterly production of his maturity. The first composition is commonplace ; an old man is kneeling before a young man, who kindly raises him. At first sight there is nothing to indicate who the personages are, nor that there is anything dramatic in the action. In the second, on the contrary, there is grandeur and energy. This old man is Priam, the unfor- HIS EARLY SUCCESSES. 11 tunate father of Hector; this warrior is Achilles, who sits, with fixed look and bent brow; in his mighty heart the terrible anger which the poet has sung. Will he permit himself to be moved to pity ? Will he meet the terrible grief of the father ■with a stern repulse ? The hero’s companions await the issue with anxiety. The composition is simple, the pose of every one of the figures is natural ; the artist has not had recourse to any forced attitudes in the production of so striking an effect. The first work of the pupil was by no means devoid of merit. It is recorded that Bishop Mtinter, a man of taste and culture, was so pleased with it that he predicted that Thorvaldsen would become one of the great sculptors of his age. Compared with the Heliodorus, the Priam denoted an important progress, especially in the direc- tion of naturalness and simplicity. It is evident from this, that the study of the antique was that which ultimately gave the artist’s talent its true direction. The Priam was given by Thorvaldsen, as a keepsake, in later days, to Lahde, the engraver, on the occasion of his departure from Rome ; but it was after- wards purchased by the Danish Government, and placed in the Academy collection. At the same epoch, Thorvaldsen modelled another bas-relief of smaller dimensions. The subject is Hercules and Omphale. In 1793 he entered upon a serious struggle, whose result was, in a great degree, to decide his future. If he should obtain the large gold medal, he would acquire a right to travel for three years, with an allowance from the Academy. On presenting himself this time to compete for the prize, he was not sustained by a presump- tuous confidence, but he was not apprehensive. St. Peter curing the paralytic beggar — a bas-relief now placed in the Academy — procured him the great prize. Some biographers have represented Thorvaldsen at this period of his life as completely uneducated. It is evident that the state- ment is exaggerated. The practice of the Academy professors was to give their pupils the finest works in sculpture and drawing from which to study, and, in the St. Peter, reminiscences, and even traces of an imitation, of Raphael are to be found. At a later period all the sculptor’s religious works bore the impress of his 12 LIFE OF THORVALDSEN. admiration for the great master ; just as his statues and his bas- reliefs, when their subjects are pagan, reflect Greek antiquity. It is, however, true, that Thorvaldsen was ignorant of everything which had no direct bearing on his art. History and literature were quite unknown to him, and all his life he remained, strictly speaking, an illiterate man. As the allowance attached to the gold medal for sculpture was not then at the disposition of the Academy, and Thorvaldsen could not therefore commence the three years of travel to which he was entitled, he waited at Copenhagen. The Academy, in order to enable him to prosecute his studies, granted him a pension for two years. He was thus placed in a comparatively good position, because, in addition, he procured some employment. He drew vignettes for publishers — for instance, the illustrations of Thalia by He Haste ; Northern Tales by He Suhm ; Prose Essays by Rahbeck ; — he taught the art of modelling to some wealthy pupils, and he also gave drawing lessons. He even executed several portraits, the greater number drawn on parch- ment, and slightly coloured. To this epoch belong several of his medallion-portraits, among which are those of the painter AVolff, and the doctor Saxtorff, two bas-reliefs — the Seasons and the Hours, from the designs of Abildgaard ; four original compositions, an Euterpe, a Terpsichore, and two other Muses. Abildgaard, who was the first to discover Thorvaldsen’s artistic talents, nevertheless exercised but little influence over him. This artist, whose mannerism was excessive, was naturally in vogue at that time. No doubt the earliest works of Thor- valdsen were affected by the contact between him and the painter ; indeed that influence may be plainly discerned in a little group executed when he was very young, and now placed in the under- ground gallery of the Museum : it is of trifling merit, and represented a sitting woman, giving something to drink to two little boys in attitudes anything but easy and natural. But although the sculptor, when he had emerged from the groping period, boldly thrust aside Abildgaard’s order of art, he preserved the painter’s method of handling in his designs, in which he showed remarkable discretion, for Abildgaard drew from CHAEACTERISTICS IN YOUTH. 13 nature with great skill. There are some really fine anatomical studies by this artist in the Academy, Though the forms are generally in stifi* attitudes, the drawing is firm, correct, and very pure. Until the end of his life, Thorvaldsen drew upon the principles which Abildgaard had inculcated, A few of the portraits belonging to this period have been found, M, Thiele possesses a small black silhouette, very graceful and delicate, of the young Bertel, drawn by himself as a gift for his friend Fritsch, the flower-painter. In his youth, Bertel was much given to silence, A certain melancholy, difficult to explain, was expressed in his limpid blue eyes. He was naturally shy, and, having none of the habits of society, he was not expansive. His mind was indolent on every subject except sculpture ; and if he learned anything outside of his art, it was only by observation, or from intercourse with educated men. The last years which he passed at Copen- hagen before his departure for Eome modified to a certain extent the excessive reserve with which he may have been previously reproached ; and he who had formerly never been seen to laugh, began to share the gaiety of his light-hearted companions. Two years had elapsed since he had obtained the gold medal for sculpture, but the travelling grant was not yet vacant, and the duration of the subvention allotted to him by the Academy was approaching its term. Thorvaldsen asked that the allowance should be extended to him during a third year, and at the same time he presented a small bas-relief of Numa consulting the nymph Egeria (now in the underground gallery of the Museum) • — a graceful Avork, in which the forced attitudes were still ble- mishes. The prolongation of the subvention was granted, and he was informed that on the following year the travelling alloAv- ance Avould be at the disposition of the Academy, vdio would accord it to him. During the close of his sojourn at Copenhagen, he Avas com- missioned by M. de Reventlow to execute a bust of M. de Berns- torff, the Minister of State. He had never seen this personage, and Avas oldiged to reproduce his features from a painted portrait. Before putting the finishing touches to his Avork, he obtained, not without difticulty, a sitting of only a fcAV minutes’ duration from u LIFE OF THORVALDSEN. fiourit Bernstorff, but nevertheless he produced a successful like- ness. This work is well done. Then he modelled, with much more facility, the bust of Tyge Rothe, one of the Councillors of State. These are the two first works of Thorvaldsen, in the order of time, which figure in the Museum, but, though the modelling of these busts was done at Copenhagen, he did not execute them in marble until after his arrival at Rome. On the 20th of May, 1796, Thorvaldsen embarked on board the Thetis, bound for Naples. The young artist, who was not destined to see his parents again — his mother died in 1804, and his father in 1806 — left his native land, strongly recommended to the care of the captain, M. Fisker, by Count Bernstorff, and furnished with letters of introduction at Rome. The young man had to endure some rough experiences before the end of the long voyage was reached. After having cruised in the North Sea, the Thetis touched at Malaga, then at Algiers, and lay to before Malta. There she underwent a severe quarantine, and, having at length set sail for Tripoli, she was overtaken by so terrific a tempest that she was forced to return to Malta for repairs. Thorvaldsen, always indisposed to any study except that of sculpture, remained in complete idleness during the voyage. He passed his time in rare conversations and frequent reveries, and the only thing he ever really occupied himself in was writing a few notes in an album, which, with many other documents, are preserved at the IMuseum. These notes testify to the simplicity of the young artist’s character at this time. Here are a few extracts : — “Malta, December, 1796. “ In quarantine. The morning is as fine as can be imagined. 1 am told we are free and disinfected. The cold is by no means so piercing as it is with us on a fine autumn morning. "With the messenger who brought the good news came seven boats full of musicians, who have installed themselves in the cabin, and are regaling us with probably the best they know how to do. It is not good, but at the same time it is not altogether bad. But what with the beauty of the morning, the novelt}', and the hatred and fear of these Maltese changed all of a sudden to friendship and HIS JOURNEY TO ITALY. 15 carelessness — above all, with the old dream of Italian music on the Avater realized after a fashion before my eyes — their performance is everything that is delicious in my ears, although it is generally restricted to serenade airs, Avhich are certainly not employed at a fitting time and place.” “Malta, \&th January, 1797. “ In the afternoon at five o’clock I leave the frigate, which goes from Malta to Tripoli. Seated in the boat, I suffer at seeing it depart. I can hardly hide my tears from the Vice-consul, who is in the boat with the pilot and another man whom I do not know. I step ashore. The pilot points out to me the captain of the Spironavo, in which ship I am to sail for Palermo. He comes back to me immediately. He tries to console me, seeing me so sad. I sup with him, and he shows me my sleeping room, which will do very well.” “17