Loki

After decades of Neo-Classicism’s innumerable Greek/Roman motifs there emerged in Denmark around 1820 an interest in Norse mythology. Thorvaldsen himself was not too enthusiastic about it but his pupil Freund created a great frieze with Norse gods and heroes. Loki is the evil spirit in their midst. Freund presents him as a sneaking figure with the wings of a bat – a personification of mankind’s worst aspects.