THORWALDSEN, trevald-zen (Dan., TuOn yALnSEN), BERTEL ( 770-1844 ) . An eminent Danish sculptor, the chief exponent in the nine teenth century of antique tendency in the plastic arts. He was born at Copenhagen. November 19, 1770, the son of an Icelandic carpenter and carver of figures used upon galleons. Bertel's early successful attempts at his father's craft caused the latter to send the boy to the Academy at the age of eleven. After winning several other medals, he received, in 1793, the great gold medal, and with it a stipend for three years' study at Rome. It was not, however, until 1796 that the stipend for sculpture became available and Thor waldsen set out on his journey as passenger in a royal frigate, reaching the Eternal City in March, 1797. There he was primarily less influenced by the master works of antiquity than by Carstens, who had already been his model during his ad olescenca at Copenhagen. Although he worked diligently, his earnings were scant. and after his stipend had been prolonged three times he was on the point of returning home, in 1803, when a commission canoe to him from Sir Thomas Hope to execute in marble the eolossal statue of "Ja son with the Golden Fleece," the plaster cast of had called forth the admiration of all connoisseurs and critics, and even of Canova. Orders now came to him in abundance, especially after he had finished the spirited relief of the "Abduction of Briseis," following close upon his Jason. It ranks among his most perfect crea tions in the realm of relief sculpture. which be came his favorite medium of expression. In 1804 he produced the famous group of "Cupid and Psyche," and the relief of "Dance of the Muses on Mount and in 1805 the statues of "Apollo," "Bacchus," and "Gany mede," which was later followed by a "Cany mede Filling the Cup," and the graceful group of "Ganymede Watering the Eagle of Zeus." With his increasing reputation came new dis tinctions and honors; in 1804 the Florence Acad emy appointed him professor and in 1808 lie was elected a member of the Accademia di San Luca in Rome, sending as his reception-piece the relief "A Genio Lumen." About 1809 Thorwaldsen won
a new patron in Grown Prince Louis of Bavaria, who sought his advice in purchasing antique works of art and commissioned him to execute a statue of "Adonis" (completed in 1832, Glypto thek, Munich).
During the years 1809-11 he originated so many works, some of them among his best, that he felt obliged to avail himself of the cooperation of his pupils and assistants. To the year 1809 belong four of his most attractive reliefs, the group of "Hector, Paris, and Helena," and three other mythological subjects. and in 1810-11 he wrought the life-size statue of "Psyche," one of the master's creations approaching nearest to the spirit of antique art, and a heroic-sized "Mars Weighing Cupid's Arrows." About this time Na poleon had planned a visit to Rome, and the French Academy there, being charged with the decoration of the Quirinal for the conqueror's reception, intrusted Thorwaldsen with the exe cution of a frieze the "Entry of Alexander the Great into Babylon," with which he achieved prodigious success. Its execution in marble found a permanent home in the Villa Carlotta on Lake Como, and a modified replica was acquired by the Danish Government for Kristiansborg Castle. From a purely artistic point of view the "Memorial to Baroness Seim hart" (1814) is nearest akin to the Greek reliefs of the fourth century B.C., and of his composi tions dating from 1814-15, the medallions of "Morning" and "Night" have probably given him the widest reputation. In 1816-18 he produced "Venus with the Apple," "Hobe," "Cupid Trium phant," "Bacchante Dancing," "Shepherd Boy Resting," "Mercury Slayer of Argus," and "The Three Graces." The latter subject he treated even more successfully in the high relief for the tomb of the painter .Appiani. A series of charming reliefs with Cupid as the central figure date from the same period, and the year 1819 saw- the realization of the unique "Lion Monument," at Lucerne, chiseled out of the nat ural rock by the Swiss sculptor Ahorn after Thorw•a]dsen's model.