A History of Art for Beginners and Students: Painting, Sculpture, ArchitectureWaters, Clara Erskine Clement
History
A History of Art for Beginners and Students: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture
Waters, Clara Erskine Clement
Art -- History
All this must have gratified the artist, who had earned such proud
honors by the force of his genius; but it interests us much more to know
that he received commissions for some very important works, among which
those of the Church of Our Lady are very interesting. The orders for all
the work which he did here were not given at once, but in the end it
became a splendid monument to this sculptor, and embraces almost all his
religious works of any importance. There are the figures of Christ and
the Twelve Apostles; the Angel of Baptism, which is an exquisite font;
the Preaching of St. John the Baptist, which is a group in terra-cotta
on the pediment of the church; a bas-relief in marble of the
Institution of the Lord's Supper; another in plaster of Christ's Entry
into Jerusalem; one of Christ Bearing the Cross; one of the Baptism of
Christ; another of the Guardian Angel, and one of Christian Charity.
He did not remain very long in Denmark, but went to Warsaw, where he had
been summoned to arrange for some important works. He was presented to
the Emperor Alexander, who gave him sittings for a portrait bust; this
was so successful that for some years Thorwaldsen employed skilled
workmen to constantly repeat it, in order to fill the demand for it
which was made upon him. While at Warsaw he received an order for a
monument to Copernicus, which was dedicated in 1830; other important
commissions were given him, and after visiting Cracow, Troppau, and
Vienna, he reached Rome in December, 1820, where he was heartily
welcomed by the artists, who gave him a banquet, on which occasion the
Prince Royal of Denmark sat next to the sculptor.
Before this a correspondence had established a friendship between
Thorwaldsen and Prince Louis of Bavaria; but from the year 1821 intimate
personal relations existed between them. He took up work with great
energy; he had returned to Rome with so much to do that he required much
room, and employed a large company of workmen. In the summer of 1822 he
was able to secure a large building which had been used for a stable to
the Barberini Palace, and here he was able to set up all his large
models.
In 1824 Thorwaldsen was summoned by the Cardinal Consalvi, who gave him
the commission for the monument to Pius VII., now in the Clementine
Chapel of St. Peter's at Rome; this work was not completed when the
cardinal himself died, and his own monument by Thorwaldsen was placed in
the Pantheon before that of Pius VII. was put in its place. He also made
a cross for the Capuchins for which he would accept no reward, though
they were entirely satisfied with it.
In 1825 Thorwaldsen was elected President of the Academy of St. Luke
with the advice and consent of Pope Leo XII., who paid him a visit in
his studio. Many delays occurred, and the monument to Pius VII. was not
erected until 1831.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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