Monument to Bertel Thorvaldsen - Roma, Italy
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N 41° 54.180 E 012° 29.369
33T E 291761 N 4642054
The monument to Bertel Thorvaldsen stands in the garden of the Palazzo Barberini, a 17th-century palace in Rome, facing the Piazza Barberini in Rione Trevi.
Waymark Code: WM10X24
Location: Lazio, Italy
Date Posted: 07/04/2019
Views: 1
The Palazzo Barberini was designed for Pope Urban VIII by Carlo Maderno (1556–1629) on the previous location of Villa Sforza. The ceiling of the central hall was decorated by Pietro da Cortona with the panegyric Allegory of Divine Providence and Barberini power to glorify the Barberini family. Since the 1950s, it houses the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, the main national collection of older paintings in Rome.
The Bertel Thorvaldsen monument is a life size marble self-portrait carved by the famed Danish sculptor. It shows the artist wearing a short belted tunic, his left arm resting on a figure of Hope.
Bertel Thorvaldsen (19 November 1770 – 24 March 1844) was a Danish sculptor of international fame and medallist, who spent most of his life (1797–1838) in Italy. Thorvaldsen was born in Copenhagen into a Danish/Icelandic family of humble means, and was accepted to the Royal Danish Academy of Art when he was eleven years old. Working part-time with his father, who was a wood carver, Thorvaldsen won many honors and medals at the academy. He was awarded a stipend to travel to Rome and continue his education.
In Rome, Thorvaldsen made a name for himself as a sculptor. Maintaining a large workshop in the city, he worked in a heroic neo-classicist style. His patrons resided all over Europe.
Upon his return to Denmark in 1838, Thorvaldsen was received as a national hero. The Thorvaldsen Museum was erected to house his works next to Christiansborg Palace. Thorvaldsen is buried within the courtyard of the museum. In his time, he was seen as the successor of master sculptor Antonio Canova. His strict adherence to classical norms has tended to estrange modern audiences. Among his more famous public monuments are the statues of Nicolaus Copernicus and Józef Poniatowski in Warsaw; the statue of Maximilian I in Munich; and the tomb monument of Pope Pius VII, the only work by a non-Catholic in St. Peter's Basilica.
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