BERTEL THORWALDSEN

BERTEL THORWALDSEN (1770-1844), an eminent Danish sculptor, born near Copenhagen, the son of a poor Icelander; won a Government scholarship at the Academy of Copenhagen in 1793, which enabled him to study in Rome, where he was greatly inspired by the ancient Greek sculptures, and fired with the ambition of emulating the classical masters; Canova encouraged him, and a fine statue of Jason established his reputation; his life henceforth was one of ever-increasing fame and prosperity. Denmark received him with highest honour in 1819, but the milder Italian climate better suited his health, and he returned to Rome, where he executed all his great works; these deal chiefly with subjects chosen from the Greek mythology, in which he reproduces with marvellous success the classic spirit and conception; executed also a colossal group of "Christ and the Twelve Apostles," "St. John Preaching in the Wilderness," and other religious subjects, besides statues of Copernicus and Galileo, and the celebrated reliefs "Night" and "Morning": bequeathed to his country his large fortune and nearly 300 of his works, now in the Thorwaldsen Museum, one of the great sights of Copenhagen.