A History of Art for Beginners and Students: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture

by Clara Erskine Clement Waters

The boy was amazed at these honors, and from this day retained the title of "Herr," which gave him much distinction. When, after many years, the sculptor had been loaded with honors, and stood on the heights of fame, he was accustomed to say that no glory had ever been so sweet to him as that first rapture which came from the words of the Chaplain Höyer when he was seventeen years old and a poor school-boy.

The effect of this first prize seemed to be to rouse his ambition, and he worked with the greatest diligence and earnestness. Two years later he made a bas-relief of Love in Repose, which took the large silver medal. His father now thought him prepared to enter on the life of a ship's carver, and Bertel made no objection to doing so; but the painter Abildgaard, who had been his teacher in the academy, had grown very fond of him, and saw how much talent he had, and could not think of his being but a common tradesman without deep regret. He went, therefore, to the old carver, and after some difficulty obtained his consent that his son should spend half his time in study at the academy, and the other half in the earning of his daily bread at his father's side.

In 1790, when twenty years old, Thorwaldsen made a medallion of the Princess of Denmark, which was so good a likeness that a number of copies was sold. A year later he gained the small gold medal of the academy by a bas-relief of the Expulsion of Heliodorus from the Temple. The Minister of State now became interested in the young artist, and measures were taken to aid him to go on with his studies. His patrons desired him to study the subjects of the antique sculptures, and he chose that of Priam begging the Body of Hector from Achilles. Later in life he repeated this subject, and it is interesting to notice the strength and grandeur of the second when compared with the weakness of the first. And yet it was from the latter that predictions were made of Thorwaldsen's future greatness. In 1793 he gained the prize which entitled him to travel and study three years at the expense of the academy. The work he presented was a bas-relief of Saint Peter healing the Paralytic. In these works this sculptor already showed two qualities which remained the same through his life; in his subjects from antiquity he showed a Greek spirit, which has led some writers to speak of him as a "posthumous Greek," or a true Greek artist born after other Greek artists had died; on the other hand, when he treated religious subjects his spirit was like that of the best masters of the Renaissance, and these works remind us of Raphael. All this excellence came entirely from his artistic nature, for outside of that he was ignorant; he knew nothing of history or literature, and was never a man of culture as long as he lived. Outside of the work connected with his profession Thorwaldsen was indolent, and only acquired knowledge of other matters through observation or from the conversation of others.

Although he gained the prize which allowed him to travel in 1793, he did not leave Copenhagen until May, 1796. In the mean time he had done what he could to earn something: he had made designs for book-publishers, given lessons in drawing and modelling, and made some bust and medallion portraits, reliefs, and so on. The vessel in which the young sculptor sailed for Naples was called the Thetis, and the captain engaged to watch over him; the voyage was long, and all on board became fond of Thorwaldsen, though the captain wrote, "He is an honest boy, but a lazy rascal." This opinion is very amusing when we know what an enormous amount of labor he performed. At Naples he remained for some time, and saw and admired all its works of art. He did not reach Rome until about nine months after leaving Copenhagen, but from that time his whole thought and life were changed. He was accustomed to say, "I was born on the 8th of March, 1797; before then I did not exist."

While in Naples Thorwaldsen had been ill, and suffered from a malarial affection, which compelled him to be idle much of the time. But he was always studying the antique statues, and made many copies. Some of the first original works which he attempted were failures, when, at last, he modelled a colossal statue of Jason, which was well received by those who saw it, and made him somewhat famous in Rome (Fig. 118). Canova praised it, and other critics did the same; but Thorwaldsen had no money; the academy had supported him six years; what could he do? Quite discouraged, he was engaged in his preparations for leaving Rome, when Mr. Thomas Hope, the English banker, gave him an order for the Jason in marble. In an hour his life was changed. He was living in Rome not as a student on charity, but as an artist gaining his living. We are forced to add that Mr. Hope did not receive this statue until 1828, and Thorwaldsen has been much blamed for his apparent ingratitude; but we cannot here give all the details of the unfortunate affair.

Fig. 118.—Jason.
By Thorwaldsen.

Thorwaldsen had a true and faithful friend in Rome, the archæologist Zoëga; at his house the young Dane had met a beautiful Italian girl, Anna Maria Magnani, whom he loved devotedly. She was too ambitious to marry a poor sculptor, so she married a rich M. d'Uhden; but she persuaded Thorwaldsen to sign an agreement by which he bound himself to take care of her if she should not agree with her husband and should leave him; this was just what happened in 1803, and the sculptor received her into his house, where she remained sixteen years, when she disappears from his life. He provided an honorable marriage for their daughter.

In 1803 Thorwaldsen also made the acquaintance of the Baron von Schubart, the Danish Minister, who presented the sculptor to Baron von Humboldt; and through the friendship of these two men, and the persons to whom they presented him, Thorwaldsen received many orders. In 1804 his fame had become so well established that he received orders from all countries, and from this time, during the rest of his life, he was never able to do all that was required of him. He was much courted in society, where he was praised for his art and beloved for his agreeable and pleasing manner. In this same year he was made a Professor of the Royal Academy of Florence; and though the Academy of Copenhagen expected his return, they would not recall him from the scene of his triumphs, and sent him a gift of four hundred crowns. A few months later he was made a member of the Academy of Bologna and of that of his native city, in which last he was also appointed a Professor.

Many circumstances conspired to increase his popularity and to excite the popular interest in him, when, in 1805, he produced the bas-relief of the Abduction of Briseis, which still remains one of his most celebrated works. His Jason had put him on a level with Canova, who was then at the height of his fame; now the Briseis was said by many to excel the same type of works by Canova, and there is no question that in bas-relief the Dane was the better sculptor of the two. This relief and his group of Cupid and Psyche, which was completed in 1805, mark the era at which Thorwaldsen reached his full perfection as a sculptor. In this same year he modelled his first statue of Venus; it was less than life-size; and though two copies of it were finished in marble, he was not pleased with it, and destroyed the model: later he made the same statue in full size.