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

by Clara Erskine Clement Waters

He lived three years more, and was always busy. His mind was strong and his conceptions of his subjects had lost nothing, but his ability to execute his works was less; his hand had lost somewhat of its cunning. He went much into society, was fond of the theatre, and under the devoted care of his servant, Wilkens, he enjoyed all that was possible to a man of his age. On the 24th of March 1844, the Baroness von Stampe went to ask him to dine at her house; he said he was not well and would not go out; but as his daughter was to be there and expected him he decided to go. He was modelling a bust of Luther, and threw down before it a handful of clay and stuck a trowel in it; just so, as he left it, this now stands in the museum, preserved under glass, with the print of his hand in the clay.

He was merry at dinner, and in speaking of the museum said he could die now, whenever he chose, since the architect Bindesböll had finished his tomb. After dinner he went to the theatre, and there it was seen that he was really ill; he was taken out with haste and laid upon a sofa, when it was found that he was already dead. The Charlottenburg joined the theatre, and there, in the hall of antique sculpture, he was laid. He was first buried in the Frue Kirke, which he had so splendidly decorated; four years later he was borne to the vault in the centre of the Thorwaldsen Museum, where above him grows the evergreen ivy, a fitting emblem of his unfading fame.

Thiele, in his splendid book called "Thorwaldsen and his Works," gives a list of two hundred and sixty works by this master; and as one journeys from Rome, where are some of his sculptures in St. Peter's and the Quirinal, to Copenhagen, with the Frue Kirke and the Museum, one passes through few cities that are not adorned by his statues and reliefs. Among his most important works are the frieze of Alexander's entrance into Babylon, at the Quirinal; the Lion of Lucerne; the many statues, groups, and bas-reliefs in the Frue Kirke; more than thirty sepulchral and commemorative monuments in various cities and countries; sixteen bas-reliefs which illustrate the story of Cupid and Psyche; twenty bas-reliefs of Genii; twenty-two figures from antique fables, and many portrait busts and statues, and various other subjects.

Thorwaldsen was a very remarkable man. No circumstance of his youth indicated his success, and a certain indolence which he had would have seemed to forbid it; but the power was within him, and was of that genuine quality which will declare itself; and a man who has it becomes great without intending to be so, and almost without believing that he is remarkable beyond others. The true antique spirit seems to have been revived in him. His characteristics as a sculptor are severe simplicity, perfect beauty in form, distinctness, and repose. Thiele says of him: "He has challenged and has received the decision of the world's Supreme Court, that his name shall stand on the rolls of immortality. And if his life might be embodied in a single emblem, perhaps it should be that of a young lion, with an eye that glows and flashes fire, while he is bound with ivy and led by the hand of the three graces."

The sculpture of Germany in the last part of the eighteenth and the early years of the present century was very interesting. The architect Schinkel was a great lover of antique art, and he had much influence over all arts, as well as in his special department. Thorwaldsen himself so admired the sculptor John Rudolph Schadow (1786-1822) that when the King of Prussia gave him a commission for a statue he replied: "Sire, there is at this moment in Rome one of your faithful subjects who is more capable than I of performing to your satisfaction the task with which you deign to honor me; permit me to solicit for him your royal favor." The commission was given to Schadow, and he made his charming work, The Spinner. John Rudolph was the son of John Gottfried Schadow (1764-1850), who was court sculptor, and long survived his gifted son. The chief works of the father were the statues of Count von der Mark, at Berlin; that of Frederick the Great, at Stettin; Luther's monument in the market-place at Wittenberg, and Blücher's statue at Rostock.

John Rudolph Schadow studied under both Canova and Thorwaldsen, and was a very gifted artist. He was engaged upon a group of Achilles protecting the body of Penthesilea at the time of his death; it was finished by Wolff.

Fig. 121.—Statue of Queen Louise.
By Rauch.

Christian Frederic Tieck (1776-1851) was an eminent sculptor of his time, and decorated with sculpture some of the fine edifices erected at Berlin by Schinkel. He was very active in establishing a gallery of models from the antique at Berlin, and was a Director of the Sculptures in the Museum as well as a member of the Academy. His most successful original works were portrait busts, and he had many notable people among his sitters. Among them were the Emperor of Germany, the King of Bavaria, Schelling, Goethe, Lessing, and many others.

Christian Rauch (1777-1857). This eminent sculptor was born at Waldeck, and followed the manner of Schadow, which he carried to its perfection. His statue of Queen Louise (Fig. 121) is one of the finest works of modern sculpture, and his statues of the Generals Scharnhorst and Bülow, in Berlin, are very fine; the reliefs upon the pedestals are of classic beauty. But his masterpiece is the grand Friedrichs monument. Rauch executed many excellent busts; he made good portraits, and yet he elevated the character of his subjects to the greatest nobleness of which they were capable. As a rule Rauch avoided religious subjects, but late in life he modelled the group of Moses supported in prayer by Aaron and Hur.