Bertel Thorvaldsen was a Danish/Icelandic sculptor of international fame, who spent most of his life (1797–1838) in Italy. He was an outstanding representative of the Neoclassical period in sculpture.
Background
He was born in Copenhagen on the 19th of November 1770, the son of Gottskálk Þorvaldsson, an Icelander who had settled in Denmark. His father was a wood-carver at a ship yard, where he made decorative carvings for large ships and was the early source of influence on his son Bertel's development as a sculptor and on his choice of career. Thorvaldsen's mother was Karen Dagnes, a Jutlandic peasant girl. His birth certificate and baptismal records have never been found, and the only record is of his confirmation in 1787.
Education
In 1781, by the help of some friends, eleven-year-old Thorvaldsen was admitted to Copenhagen's Royal Danish Academy of Art (Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi) first as a draftsman, and from 1786 at the modeling school. At night he would help his father in the wood carving. Among his professors were Nicolai Abildgaard and Johannes Wiedewelt, who are both likely influences for his later neo-classicist style. Sonn he began to show his exceptional talents. As a consequence, he was granted a Royal stipend, enabling him to complete his studies in Rome. Leaving Copenhagen on August 30 on the frigate Thetis, he landed in Palermo in January 1797 traveled to Naples where he studied for a month before making his entry to Rome on 8 March 1797.
Career
Thorwaldsen's first success was the model for a statue of Jason, which was highly praised by Canova, and he received the commission to execute it in marble from Thomas Hope, a wealthy English art-patron. From that time Thorwaldsen's success was assured, and he did not leave Italy for twenty-three years. In 1819 he returned to Denmark, where he was commissioned to make the colossal series of statues of Christ and the twelve apostles which are now in the Fruenkirche in Copenhagen. These were executed after his return to Rome, and were not completed till 1838, when Thorwaldsen again returned to Denmark. He died suddenly in the Copenhagen theatre on the 24th of March 1844 and bequeathed a great part of his fortune for the building and endowment of a museum in Copenhagen, and also ieft to fill it all his collection of works of art and the models for all his sculpture-a very large collection, exhibited to the greatest possible advantage. Thorwaldsen is buried in the courtyard of this museum, under a bed of roses, by his own special wish.
Personality
Thorwaldsen worked sometimes with feverish eagerness; at other times he was idle for many months together.