Peter and John Healing a Lame Man

The Major Gold Medal was the greatest distinction that could be achieved while training in the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Art. A competition was organised each year with a predetermined motif for respectively painters, sculptors and architects, and if an artist was awarded the Major Gold Medal, he was entitled to apply for a three-year scholarship for further training abroad. However, no more than two artists were allowed to travel abroad at the same time, and although Thorvaldsen was awarded the Major Gold Medal in 1793 for the relief Peter and John Healing a Lame Man, he was not able to embark on his great journey abroad until the autumn of 1796. This was a journey that led to his spending more than 40 years in Rome.