The exquisite group of Ganymede and the Eagle (Fig. 119) shows the effect of his study of the antique, and the same may be said of his statue of Hope, a small copy of which was afterward placed above the tomb of the Baroness von Humboldt. The Three Graces (Fig. 120) belongs to the year 1817; the Mercury was of about this date, as well as the elegant statue of the Princess Baryatinska, which is his finest portrait statue.
After an absence from Denmark of twenty-three years he left Rome in July, 1819, and turned his face toward home. His model for the famous Lion of Lucerne had already been sent on before him, and the work commenced by one of his pupils, Bienaimé. Thorwaldsen first went to Lucerne, where he gave all necessary advice in this work, and then proceeding on his journey reached Copenhagen on the 3d of October. Apartments had been prepared for him in the Academy of Fine Arts, and as soon as it was known that he was there he was the centre of attraction and importance. Crowds went to welcome him to his home. A great reception and a grand banquet were given in his honor, and he was lauded to the skies in speeches, and was made a Counsellor of State, in order that he might sit at table with the royal family and not violate the court etiquette.
Fig. 120.—The Three Graces.
By Thorwaldsen.
All this must have gratified the artist, who had earned such proud honors by the force of his genius; but it interests us much more to know that he received commissions for some very important works, among which those of the Church of Our Lady are very interesting. The orders for all the work which he did here were not given at once, but in the end it became a splendid monument to this sculptor, and embraces almost all his religious works of any importance. There are the figures of Christ and the Twelve Apostles; the Angel of Baptism, which is an exquisite font; the Preaching of St. John the Baptist, which is a group in terra-cotta on the pediment of the church; a bas-relief in marble of the Institution of the Lord's Supper; another in plaster of Christ's Entry into Jerusalem; one of Christ Bearing the Cross; one of the Baptism of Christ; another of the Guardian Angel, and one of Christian Charity.
He did not remain very long in Denmark, but went to Warsaw, where he had been summoned to arrange for some important works. He was presented to the Emperor Alexander, who gave him sittings for a portrait bust; this was so successful that for some years Thorwaldsen employed skilled workmen to constantly repeat it, in order to fill the demand for it which was made upon him. While at Warsaw he received an order for a monument to Copernicus, which was dedicated in 1830; other important commissions were given him, and after visiting Cracow, Troppau, and Vienna, he reached Rome in December, 1820, where he was heartily welcomed by the artists, who gave him a banquet, on which occasion the Prince Royal of Denmark sat next to the sculptor.
Before this a correspondence had established a friendship between Thorwaldsen and Prince Louis of Bavaria; but from the year 1821 intimate personal relations existed between them. He took up work with great energy; he had returned to Rome with so much to do that he required much room, and employed a large company of workmen. In the summer of 1822 he was able to secure a large building which had been used for a stable to the Barberini Palace, and here he was able to set up all his large models.
In 1824 Thorwaldsen was summoned by the Cardinal Consalvi, who gave him the commission for the monument to Pius VII., now in the Clementine Chapel of St. Peter's at Rome; this work was not completed when the cardinal himself died, and his own monument by Thorwaldsen was placed in the Pantheon before that of Pius VII. was put in its place. He also made a cross for the Capuchins for which he would accept no reward, though they were entirely satisfied with it.
In 1825 Thorwaldsen was elected President of the Academy of St. Luke with the advice and consent of Pope Leo XII., who paid him a visit in his studio. Many delays occurred, and the monument to Pius VII. was not erected until 1831.
The works upon which the artist and his assistants were engaged were far too numerous to be mentioned; he was at the very height of fame and popularity, and was forced to refuse some of the commissions sent him. In 1830 he went to Munich to superintend the setting up of his monument to Eugène Beauharnais, the Duke of Leuchtenberg. This gave Louis of Bavaria an opportunity to show his regard for the sculptor, which he did in every possible way. Soon after the monument was unveiled Thorwaldsen received the cross of an officer of the Legion of Honor.