The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Thorvaldsen, Bertel

(also B. Thorwaldsen). Born Nov. 13 (or 19), 1768 (or 1770), in Copenhagen; died there Mar. 24, 1844. Danish sculptor.

Thorvaldsen, one of the greatest representatives of late classicism, studied at the Academy of Arts in Copenhagen from 1781 to 1793. From 1797 to 1838 he lived in Naples and Rome, where he studied classical sculpture and the works of Raphael. Thorvaldsen became president of the Academy of Saint Luke in Rome in 1825 and of the Academy of Arts in Copenhagen in 1833. He worked predominantly in marble.

Like the sculptures of A. Canova, Thorvaldsen’s works tend toward the idealization and cool detachment characteristic of academic European art of the 19th century. They are distinguished for their masterful use of marble, strict compositional harmony, and static, restrained serenity. Notable examples are the statues Jason (1802–3; Thorvaldsen Museum, Copenhagen) and MercuryWith a Flute (1818) and the monumental frieze The Campaign of Alexander the Great (1818; the Villa Carlotta, on Lake Como).

Thorvaldsen also executed a number of portrait statues, including E. A. Osterman-Tolstaia (c. 1815–19; the Hermitage, Leningrad). His main works are housed in the Thorvaldsen Museum in Copenhagen.

REFERENCES

Lunacharskii, A. V. “Torval’dsen.” In his Stat’i ob iskusstve. Moscow-Leningrad, 1941.
Meddelelser fra Thorwaldsens Museum. Copenhagen, 1929. (Publication in progress.)

References in periodicals archive

It depicts the triumphant arrival of sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen, who had arranged to donate his own works of art, his library, and his collections to the city, from his studio in Rome.

The triumph of art at Thorvaldsens Museum; 'love' in Copenhagen

Although Bertel Thorvaldsen first achieved prominence thanks to an English patron--the banker Thomas Hope, who commissioned the marble Jason and the Golden Fleece in 1803--he somewhat ironically remains little known in the English-speaking world.

Great Dane: Danielle Thom welcomes a scholarly study of a sculptor little known in the English-speaking world

A set of four marble reliefs by the Danish neoclassical master Bertel Thorvaldsen (1770-1844), widely considered the greatest sculptor in Europe after the death of Canova, also soared over expectations to sell for $2.4m.

The art market: market review

As two of the most famous sculptors of the 19th century, Antonio Canova and Bertel Thorvaldsen would have been subject to plenty of comparative critique in their own time.

Off the shelf: Apollo's selection of recently published books on art, architecture and the history of collecting

It represents a high point of Danish engagement with the international artistic and intellectual community, with the sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen, writer Hans Christian Andersen and philosopher Soren Kierkegaard widely admired.

Collectors' focus: paintings by the most celebrated artists of the Danish Golden Age--Eckersberg, Kobke and Rorbye--rarely come on the market. Discerning collectors may still acquire top-flight works on paper, however, or atmospheric paintings by lesser-known names

In the adjoining salone, flanked by monumental portrait busts by Canova and Bertel Thorvaldsen (Figs.

The magic of Murano: Dr David Landau and his wife Marie-Rose Kahane have together built the world's finest collection of Venini glass. They gave Apollo a tour at their home in Venice, and explained why they wish to share their art with the city that inspired it

The marble was shipped directly to San Simeon in September 1930 and placed prominently in the northeast corner of the Assembly Room of La Casa Grande, opposite a Venus by the Danish neoclassical sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen.

Hearst's Canova: an exhibition in Los Angeles reveals William Randolph Hearst to have been a discriminating as well as an insatiable collector. As Carolyn Miner explains, this is perfectly demonstrated by his pursuit of a great sculpture by Canova, the Venus Italica

Facing them, a marmoreal phalanx of busts of members of the Hope family, produced in Rome by their protege, the Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen, are starkly lit against black walls.

Thomas Hope's 'true taste': this imaginatively staged exhibition pays handsome tribute to a great connoisseur, collector and designer

Lord Minto (who preferred Bertel Thorvaldsen) was one of the few dissenters--he found the 'taint of French smirking and opera dancing' in all Canova's sculptures, except when the subject was shown in sleep.

Perfect--and vacant: Ruth Guilding visits a Canova exhibition in Rome that focuses on the sculptor's relationship with Napoleon and his family

At the beginning of the 19th century, Bertel Thorvaldsen, Antonio Canova and John Flaxman were the acknowledged colossuses of neoclassicism.

Chests and breasts: a catalogue of Thorvaldsen's collection of ancient sculpture, in the Thorvaldsen Museum in Copenhagen, reveals much about this great neo-classical sculptor's practice, writes Ruth Guilding