Thorvaldsen was an outstanding representative of the
Neoclassical period in
sculpture. He was often compared to
Antonio Canova, but in fact he embodied the style of classical
Greek art more than the Italian artist. The poses and expressions of his figures are much more stiff and formal than those of Canova's.
Motifs for his works (reliefs, statues, and busts) were drawn mostly from
Greek mythology, but he also created portraits of important personalities, as in his statue of
Pope Pius VII. His works can be seen in many European countries, especially in the
Thorvaldsen Museum in Copenhagen, where his tomb is in the inner courtyard. Thorvaldsen's
Lion Monument (1819) is in
Lucerne, Switzerland. This monument commemorates the sacrifice of more than six hundred
Swiss Guards who died defending the
Tuileries during the
French Revolution. The monument portrays a dying lion lying across broken symbols of the French monarchy.
Thorvaldsen produced some striking and affecting
statues of historic figures, including two in
Warsaw, Poland: the seated
Nicolaus Copernicus, before the
Polish Academy of Sciences building, and the
equestrian statue of
Prince Józef Poniatowski that now stands before the
Presidential Palace, both located on Warsaw's
Krakowskie Przedmieście.
Mainz, Germany, has Thorvaldsen's statue of
Johannes Gutenberg.
Part of Thorvaldsen's work is informed by a pronounced classicist sensibility, traditionally encoded in European art in the myth of
Zeus and
Ganymede. Illustrative are his
Eros, several versions of
Ganymede, the
Shepherd Boy with Dog, and his bas relief of
Hylas and the Nymphs, depicting a shapely
Hylas terrified of the nubile nymphs embracing him.
Outside Europe, Thorvaldsen is less well known (but see the important paper by Dimmick below). Additionally, his statue of the
resurrected Christ, commonly referred to as
Thorvaldsen's Christus (created for what is now the
Lutheran Cathedral in Copenhagen,) has appealed to the members of
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints http://www.lightplanet.com/mormons/daily/history/1945_present/christus_eom.htm and a 3.4 m replica is on display at
Temple Square and images of the statue are used in official church media, such as the internet site LDS.org.
Thorvaldsen's primary mastery was his feel for the rhythm of lines and movements. Nearly all his sculptures can be viewed from whatever angle without compromise of their impact. In addition, he had the ability to work in monumental size. Thorvaldsen's classicicsm was strict; nevertheless his contemporaries saw his art as the ideal, although afterwards art took new directions. In short, he is the greatest of the neo-classicist sculptors -- more strict a classicist than Sergel but far greater an artist than Canova.
A bronze copy of Thorvaldsen's
Self-Portrait stands in
Central Park, New York, near the East 97 Street entrance.
