THORWALDSEN, ALBERT BAR THOLOMEW (BERTEL) (toevald sen), a Danish sculptor; born in Copen hagen, Denmark, Nov. 19, 1770. At first he helped his father to cut figure heads in the royal dockyard, then, after some years' study at the Academy of Arts, he won the privilege of studying three years abroad. Going to Rome (1797) he studied the works of Canova the sculptor, and Carstens the painter. In 1803, he re ceived a commission from Sir Thomas Hope to execute in marble a statue of Jason. Commissions flowed in and his unsurpassed abilities as a sculptor be came everywhere recognized. In 1819 he returned to Denmark, and his journey through Germany and his reception at Copenhagen resembled a triumph. After a year in Copenhagen he returned to Rome, visiting on his way Berlin, Dres den, Warsaw, and Vienna. He remained at Rome till 1838, when he undertook an other journey to Copenhagen, purposing to establish there a museum of his works and art treasures. His return was a sort
of national festival. The remainder of his life was spent chiefly in the Danish capital. Thorwaldsen was eminently suc cessful in his subjects chosen from Greek mythology, such as his Mars, Mer cury, Venus, etc. His religious works, among which are a colossal group of Christ and the Twelve Apostles, St. John Preaching in the Wilderness, and statues of the four great prophets, display grandeur of conception. Chief among his other works are his statues of Galileo and Copernicus, and the colossal lion near Lucerne, in memory of the Swiss guards who fell in defense of the Tuileries. He died in Copenhagen, March 24, 1844. The Thorwaldsen Museum, opened in 1846, contains about 300 of the works of the sculptor.