Bertel Thorvaldsen: 12 works

'The drawing is one of a group based on reliefs and other works that Thorvaldsen so industriously sought out and copied during his early years in Rome.'

'In the Villa Borghese in Rome, Thorvaldsen copied several of the painted decorations in the building.'

'Although unfinished, this drawing has the special, almost painterly qualities characteristic of a group of Thorvaldsen's pencil and chalk drawings from the early 1800s.'

'Thorvaldsen touches on several variations on the meeting between an animal on the one hand and a fabulous or mythological creature with human features on the other. Playfulness and lyricism are the dominant qualities, while in other works from the same period Thorvaldsen is occupied with some of the most serious themes in ancient literature.'

'The posture of the figure of Hector, with its stress on surface, is found again in several of Thorvaldsen's drawings, reliefs and sculptures.'

'The two muses correspond to two statues from Thorvaldsen's youth, executed after an idea by N.A.'

'With a surprising sense of drama Thorvaldsen used this motif in a couple of reliefs.'

'Quite a large number of Thorvaldsen's sketches from this time were at first done in a tentative, gentle pencil stroke later completed in ink or Indian ink.'

'Thorvaldsen modelled the group sculpture in 1817 and it exists in several marble copies.'

'His sculptures combine mythological subjects, idealized human forms, realistic details, and smooth marble surfaces to evoke the serenity of the ancient Greek models he admired.'

'We see him engaged on completing The Goddess of Hope, on which he is leaning. But just at this moment he is taking a rest and has lowered his tools.'

'This sketch of Hector has no direct counterpart among Thorvaldsen's reliefs.'