Summer 2010 of the Non-Catholic Cemetery in Rome
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No. 11 FRIENDS Summer 2010 of the Non-Catholic Cemetery in Rome N E W S L E T T E R The Takanen family moved WHO THEY WERE... to Via Sistina 104, occupying It is a great honour that the Newsletter publishes here articles about a corner apartment on the the two Finnish classic sculptors of the 19th century. Both Johannes second floor. There Johannes Takanen, who died in Rome in 1885 and rests in the Non-Catholic Takanen died on 30 Septem- Cemetery, and Walter Runeberg, who worked here for many years ber 1885 aged 35. He was and whose children are buried in Rome, have been held in the highest buried in the Non-Catholic possible esteem in Finland. They are also considered to be an impor- Cemetery on 2nd October, in tant link between the ancient world, our national cultural heritage a service attended by his and the Kalevala tradition. The Non-Catholic Cemetery is a place widow and family, and all that the Finnish people respect highly and where, in this bustling the Scandinavians present in metropolis, they gather in silence. My fellow countrymen are proud Rome, some twenty people, every time they read the epitaph on Takanen's tomb: "The mortal the majority of them sculp- remains are buried in the foreign soil, while the homeland preserves tors and painters. the repute of his faithful son." The only work by Takanen in Pauli Mäkelä, Ambassador of Finland the Cemetery is the marble portrait that he sculpted of Johannes Takanen (1849-1885) his dear friend Alexander Photo:J. Liukkonen Carlsson, a Swedish sculptor The sculptor Johannes Takanen J. Takanen. Tomb of Alexander Carlsson who died in 1878. was born on 8 December 1849 in the village of Ylä-Urpala in Vi- (1879) He was the first sculptor rolahti, Finland, to Eerikki Ta- from Finland, from humble kanen and Maria Markola who stock, to acquire an international reputation. Thanks to his notable had married in 1842. Takanen artistic production of a high standard, he – together with Walter studied design at Viipuri in 1864 Runeberg - is today held to have laid the foundations of Finnish and in Helsinki from 1865 to plastic art. Among his major works was the Väinämöinen, kannelta 1867 at the School of Design of soittava (Väinämöinen playing the Finnish harp) of 1872 which was the Art Association. He then commissioned for the Monrepos Park in Viipuri but which disap- studied sculpture at the Royal peared during the last war. Other important works are Venus ja Amor Academy of Fine Arts in Copen- (Venus and Amor) of 1873, Aino, merelle katsova (Aino looking out hagen until 1873 when he moved to sea) of 1876, Rebekka kaivolla (Rebecca at the fountain) of 1877, to Rome where he lived for the Andromeda, kallioon kahlittuna (Andromeda in chains) of 1879 and Amor, sydämiä kiduttava (Amor that torments the hearts) of 1881. rest of his life. His life in Rome became – for As a portraitist Takanen was economic reasons – a constant superior to any other Finnish battle for survival. His public and sculptor of the period. Many the purchasers of his works were important Finnish men and in Finland. Takanen used to send women were immortalised in Johannes Takanen 1849-1885 his works for exhibition in his sculpture portraits (for in- Finland but they often arrived late. He was very slow in doing busi- stance, the half-bust in bronze ness and was not clever at managing his finances. He was also some- representing J.V. Snellman what delicate in health and often ill. (1884) at Kuopio). In 1885 Takanen won the competition Takanen shared a studio with another Finnish sculptor, Robert Stigell, for a monument to Alexander in the Vicolo delle Lavandaie near Piazza del Popolo. The rent was II, Emperor of Russia and of modest for the artists but the condition of the premises did not do the Grand Duchy of Finland. much good for their health. The earth floor, the cold and the humidity He was due to undertake the affected Takanen’s health and contributed to his early death. work with Walter Runeberg In 1879 his economic circumstances improved, which encouraged who came second in the com- him to marry a Roman lady, Giacinta Biavasco (1851-1926). They petition but Takanen died be- married on 11 May 1879 and lived in a small apartment in Via fore its completion. The monu- Gregoriana 17. Three sons were born: Kullervo Eerikki in 1880, ment that is now in Senate Melina (1882-1919) and Toivo (1885-1973). Kullervo Eerikki Square in Helsinki was created by Runeberg who, on the basis (Enrico) died on 3 March 1882 at the age of two from an attack of Photo:J. Liukkonen fever. He was buried in the ossuary of the Non-Catholic Cemetery of Takanen’s design, sculpted but the exact spot is not known. Takanen had used Kullervo as the The grave of Johannes Takanen the figure of the Emperor. model for his sculpture Amor, sydämiä kiduttava (Amor that torments To celebrate the 160th anniversary of Takanen’s birth on 8 December the hearts) of 1881. His daughter Melina had no children but descen- 2009, the Johannes Takanen Society organised during 2009 an exhi- dants of Toivo still live in Rome today. continues to page 2 FRIENDS OF THE NON-CATHOLIC CEMETERY IN ROME NEWSLETTER SUMMER 2010 No. 11 PAGE 2 bition, an art competition for young people, a seminar, The previous autumn their father had described in letters how, witness- a theatrical drama and other events. These celebra- ing their children’s suffering, Lina had lost much weight and he himself tions culminated in a visit by its members to Rome in was like a thin line drawn between two points. Working on several October during which they met descendants of the sculptures and having two to four men working for him every day, he family and visited the tomb of Takanen where they was exhausted. Now the children had died and their home seemed so laid a wreath. The programme of the visit was planned terribly empty. At the end of the summer they travelled back to Finland, together with the Finnish Embassy in Rome; particu- where their daughter Maria Christina was born on October 16 in Turku, lar thanks are due to Ambassador Pauli Mäkelä and to Lina’s hometown. There was hope again for their happiness, and after his wife Leena Kurko. one year’s absence they returned to Rome. But the baby Maria survived only two weeks before dying of what was described as perniziosa. She Amor that torments Contributed by Jaakko Liukkonen, President of the the hearts (1881)* was buried beside her brothers in the Protestant Cemetery. Johannes Takanen Society. Her parents were heartbroken and were brought even closer to each *Photo: Central Art Archives/Ateneum, Helsinki other. Lina came often to the studio and stayed there while her hus- band worked. In the following spring Hjalmar Johannes, “Nino”, was born. In 1876 they moved to Paris, which they believed to be a Carl Michael Runeberg (1869-1871) healthier place to live while never finding it as inspiring as Rome. Walter Fredrik Runeberg (1871-1872) There in October a second daughter, Vasthi, was born, and a son, Alfred, later in 1882. All three lived to be adults. Maria Christina Runeberg (1872-1873) A dove of peace with an The son of Finland’s na- olive-branch in its beak tional poet, the sculptor decorates the children’s Walter Runeberg (1838- gravestone designed by 1920) first came to Rome their loving father. Wal- in November 1862, accom- ter Runeberg had used panied by a Danish sculptor the same motif for the and close friend, Lauritz grave of Finnish painter Prior (1840-1879). They Magnus von Wright in both had studied at Herman Helsinki in 1871. It sym- Wilhelm Bissen’s studio bolises hope of a new and at the Royal Academy life (referring to the of Fine Arts in Copenha- Flood in the Bible). gen. They had absorbed the In April 1876, just a few Photo: N. Stanley-Price neoclassical style of sculp- The Runeberg children’s grave today ture and in their own work months before the Rune- carried on the tradition of bergs left the city for good, a close friend and client, Victor Hoving the great master, Bertel (born in 1846) died of typhoid. He was a patron of the arts and a busi- Thorvaldsen. In their studio nessman in the transport and timber industries. Hoving’s brother asked near Piazza Barberini, there Walter Runeberg to design a monument for his brother’s grave. He was a third sculptor work- produced a bas-relief with an angel of peace holding a palm frond in ing, the Swede Frithiof his hand. Hoving had been born in Sweden but moved to Finland when Kjellberg (1836-1885). For only five years old; his brother asked that his adopted country rather a sculptor it was a dream than his native one be engraved on the stone. Walter and Lina Runeberg in 1868 come true to be able to study antiquity in its origi- nal environment. Thanks to the river Tiber, even the modelling clay in Rome was - as Prior put it - “the best in the world and like butter to work in”. It was there in Rome that Walter experienced the first loss of a good friend when the young Norwe- gian Peter Bruun died in February 1865 (on Bruun, see below). After designing his gravestone, he returned to Finland and married his fiancée Lina Elfving (1841-1916) in summer 1867.