Bertel Thorwaldsen, the "Modern Phidias."

Thorwaldsen (1770-1844) is, almost, a synonym for Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark. The great sculptor is there crowned with such glory and honor as is not accorded to any one man in any other city of the world. His name is written everywhere, in highways and byways, in churches and palaces, in parks and public buildings; Thorwaldsen is the tutelary genius of the city.

Those who claim that America was first discovered by the Norsemen, say that during their stay upon the coast a child was born, and that this first white child born upon American shores was the ancestor of Bertel Thorwaldsen. Be that as it may, his immediate parentage is well known, as also the dates of his birth and death (November 19th, 1770, March 24th, 1844). Any history of art gives almost a yearly record of his life. Thorwaldsen himself gave a different birth-date. He said: "I was born on the eighth of March, 1797; before then I did not exist." This was the date of his arrival in Rome. It was a subject of dispute for some years between Rome and Copenhagen as to which had the better right to claim Thorwaldsen as a son. To settle the dispute a grand reception was given to the sculptor in Munich. Celebrities from all nations were invited to be present; but the object of the gathering was kept as a profound secret from Thorwaldsen. During the evening it was announced that a drama would be enacted. When presented, Jupiter seated upon a throne with Juno at his side, was to determine whether the city of an artist's mortal birth or the city of his art-birth had the greater right to claim him as her son. Magnificently attired, the various claimants appeared. Rome had her claimants, as an art center; Denmark had her king, Christian IV.; the United States presented a claim; the city of Mainz was represented by Guttenberg; Stuttgart by Schiller; Munich by Maximilian. But when Jupiter arose and put in a claim for Olympus, Thorwaldsen saw through the plot. Rising to his feet and facing the assembled multitude, he exclaimed in a loud voice: "Denmark has the sole right to claim me as her son. In Copenhagen my cradle was rocked, and there my mother of blessed memory sleeps." Whereupon Jupiter flew into a towering rage and cried: "not so! In the name of all the gods and goddesses, Thorwaldsen belongs to the whole civilized world!" The artist decided the question in favor of birthright; yet the verdict of Jupiter stands, and Thorwaldsen, the great "Modern Phidias," not Danish but classic in his art, belongs to the whole world.

It is said of Thorwaldsen that he was more appreciated while living than any other artist. All the capitals of Europe resounded with his name; popes, kings and queens paid him homage. Horace Vernet crowned him at the banquet with laurel.

When Thorwaldsen returned to his native city after the Munich banquet, the wild enthusiasm of the people could not be checked. A special ship was sent to convey him and his effects from Leghorn. A fleet of boats crowded with people went down the harbor of Copenhagen to meet him, each steamer bearing a flag on which was painted some one of his noted works. The artists chose "The Three Graces;" the poets were under "Pegasus;" the students under "Minerva;" the physicians under "AEsculapius;" the mechanics under "Vulcan;" naval officers displayed "Neptune." Bands of music were playing, and choruses sang the national hymn as the ship, bearing their art-hero, sailed into the harbor of Copenhagen. Even the northern sky hung out her gorgeous banners to welcome again to the Northland her son of genius. Once landed, Thorwaldsen was received like a conquering hero, and so great was the crowd that he did not know the horses of his carriage had been detached, and that it was being drawn by the people. Yet this was only the beginning of the ovation which Denmark had prepared for the reception of "her son." No wonder that before his death Thorwaldsen bequeathed all of his unsold works and the models of his works sold; all such works of other artists as he had collected; and all souvenirs, national or personal, which had been presented to him, to Copenhagen his native city.

The building erected to contain his art treasures was the gift of the people, the design being furnished by Thorwaldsen, based upon Egyptian architecture. It is two stories in height, quadrangular in form, surrounding an open court, in the center of which the great master of the "silent art" asked to be buried. The lower story contains sculpture only; the second, sculpture, pictures, and souvenirs; the ceilings elaborately decorated by Danish artists. With galleries and vestibules, the Museum contains forty-two apartments, ample room being afforded for the display of each figure or group. In no other single building can be found the entire collected works of one artist. In Room XXXIII. is shown his last work, unfinished. He was engaged upon a bust of Luther on the morning of March 24th, 1844, when a friend, the Baroness Von Stampe, came to his studio to beg him to dine with her. He declined, but she persisted. Overpersuaded, he threw down his handful of clay before the unfinished model, and thrusting his trowel into it, never took it up again. He died suddenly of heart disease on the evening of March 24th, 1844.

Thorwaldsen was the great exponent of bas-relief. His celebrated frieze called "The Triumphal Entry of Alexander into Babylon" commemorates the entry of Napoleon Bonaparte into Rome, 1812. In it the genuine Grecian relief style is revived in all its perfect purity and severity. It has been twice copied in marble, and is engraved in a series of plates. The original is in the Quirinal Palace, Rome; a fine copy is in the Villa Carlotte on Lake Como.

Another beautiful and celebrated bas-relief is "The Sale of Cupids," executed in marble for a gentleman in England, 1825. It represents Psyche with a cage full of little Cupids. She is holding one up by its tiny wings for sale; a young woman, on bended knee, is reaching out her "longing" arms to embrace it. The next figure represents "Fruition;" a beautiful young woman has won her Cupid and embraces it with burning kisses. The next represents "Repentance;" with downcast eyes she drags her little Cupid along the ground by his wings. The next is called "Resignation;" a man borne down by the weight of his treasure has a little Cupid astride of his shoulders. The most pathetic figure of all is an old man, bowed with years, from whom a Cupid is fleeing away; he stretches out his feeble arms for Love, but the little god in flight looks back only to scoff at his infirmities. Behind Psyche a little girl peeps under the covering of the cage, longing to play with the little winged children. An older girl is holding back a lovely Cupid which is struggling to escape; this represents "Repression." Thus the artist, in a most beautiful manner, represents Love under various forms: innocence, restraint, longing, fruition, repentance, resignation, and old age.

Denmark ordered "her son" to make a portrait statue of himself, and in Room XX. the great artist stands with a chisel in one hand and a hammer in the other. His breast is bare, his robust body thinly clad, suggestive of his thirty-two years of labor in a warm climate. He leans upon an unfinished statue of Hope, "the strongest power of the human heart, as Love is its strongest passion." The green courtyard of this Museum contains the grave of the great artist, who still reflects a glory over the 19th century. The sight of the simple ivy-covered grave recalls a day of great mourning in Denmark, from the Monarch on his throne to the peasant on his farm. His quiet resting-place is marked by a low granite framework, simply engraved with the words: "Bertel Thorwaldsen, born 19th of November, 1770; died 24th of March, 1844."