BY TREASURE FROM THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ICELAND CULTURE HOUSE HVERFISGATA 5 JUNE 2019 – 31 MAY 2020

Day and Night Originals made in 1815 Biscuit, Size variable Hólavellir cemetery, Reykjavík

The bas-reliefs Day and Night, made by Thorvaldsen in Rome in 1815, are undoubtedly the artist‘s most popular bas-reliefs, widely seen on gravestones in Icelandic churchyards. At the the two pieces hang as a pair, as if to symbolise the two phases of the day, and also life and death. Night is depicted as a winged female figure or angel with her head bent and eyes closed, holding two sleeping infants (sleep and death) in her embrace. In the background an owl, the bird of the night, flies towards the observer. The ambiance is peaceful. Day is also a winged female figure, but now embodying strength and movement: Aurora, goddess of the dawn, strews roses on the earth as she glances over her shoulder at the guardian of the light who accom- panies her, holding up a flaming torch to symbolise the sun and light. In the Hólavellir cemetery, other reliefs by Thorvaldsen may also be seen on grave- Bertel Thorvaldsen (1770–1844) stones, such as images from the baptismal font of Reykjavík Cathedral. Sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen (1770–1844) was one of the most renowned artists in Europe of his time. He sought inspiration in the classical art of the Ancient Greeks and Romans, and is regarded as one of the leading exponents of neoclassical , together with Italian sculptor . Thorvaldsen spent most of his career in Rome, where his clients included the Pope, Napoleon, and many European royal families. He is the only non-Catholic sculptor whose work is on display in St. Peter‘s in Rome. Examples of Thorvaldsen’s work are to be seen all over the world, in museums, churches and outdoor spaces. The Thorvaldsen Museum in upholds his memory and preserves his works. The art- ist‘s grave is in the garden of the Museum. Bertel Thorvaldsen was born in 1770 in Copenhagen, where he grew up. His father, Gottskálk Þorvaldsson, was the son of a clergyman from Skagafjörður, north Iceland. Born in 1741, at a young age he went to Copenhagen to train as a wood- carver. In later years, he carved figureheads for ships, and also worked in stone. Bertel‘s mother, Karen Dagnes, was born in 1735 in Jutland, where her father was a deacon. The father’s Icelandic patronymic Þorvaldsson was adapted to Thorvald- sen. The couple lived in rather poor circumstances, but their son‘s artistic talent emerged in boyhood, and in 1781 he entered the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen at the age of only 11. He graduated in 1793. He received many prizes and awards for his art, including a travel grant which enabled him to go to Rome in 1796. Rome was at that time Europe’s mecca of culture and the arts, and Thorvaldsen lived there until 1838, establishing an international reputation. He Jón Eiríksson, head librarian then returned to , where he was welcomed as a national hero. Original made in Copenhagen before 1796 Plaster, Height 20 cm Bertel Thorvaldsen made over 90 free-standing , nearly 300 bas-reliefs National Museum of Iceland, Mms-1537 and more than 150 busts, in addition to quantities of drawings, sketches and In the National Museum of Iceland is a plaster mask of konferensråd Jón Eiríks- maquettes. The collection of the Thorvaldsen Museum includes plaster casts of son (1728–1787), head librarian of the Royal Library in Copenhagen. The mask most of his works, as well as many works chiselled in marble and cast in bronze. In is part of a bust made by Thorvaldsen in his youth, before he left for Rome. Its his time Thorvaldsen was one of Europe‘s most popular sculptors, who received date is uncertain. The bust was long owned by Grímur Thorkelín of Copenha- commissions from royalty and aristocracy all over the continent. Many of his gen, and in 1825 it was the property of regional governor Bjarni Thorsteinsson, leading works draw on themes and models from Graeco-Roman mythology, and who sent it to Iceland. Unfortunately the bust was broken in transit, so badly the theories of Winckelmann and Lessing on the superiority of classical Greek that only the facial mask remained whole. In 1920 Bjarni‘s granddaughter sculpture, with the emphasis on the purity of the marble and perfection of form. Steinunn Thorsteinsson (1886–1978) presented it to the National Museum. In Reykjavík three bronze casts of works by Thorvaldsen are on display in public spaces, and in addition three marble sculptures by the artist are in public col- Ganymede lections, including Ganymede, on display here. In churchyards all over Iceland Original made in Rome 1804 Text: Dagný Heiðdal bas-reliefs by Thorvaldsen are seen on many gravestones, and Icelandic collec- Marble, Height 135 cm English translation: Anna Yates National Gallery of Iceland, LÍ 7016 Photography: Sigurður Gunnarsson, Listasafn Íslands; Thorvaldsens Museum tions have various replicas of his most popular works. For further information on Design: Hildigunnur Gunnarsdóttir Thorvaldsen‘s works in Icelandic collections, visit the museum website sarpur.is © Listasafn Íslands / National Gallery of Iceland The collection of the National Gallery of Iceland includes one sculpture by Bertel Thorvaldsen, Ganymede. The original was made in Rome in 1804, only a year after he completed his Jason with the Golden Fleece, which heralded his period of fame as a sculptor in Rome. The National Gallery also has a pencil drawing of three heads by Thorvaldsen, and 66 prints of works by the artist. In his sculpture of Ganymede, seen here, Thorvaldsen presents a figure from Greek mythology, the goblet and ewer signifying the character and the story behind the sculpture, while the headgear is an allusion to the fact that Ganymede was originally a Trojan from Phrygia, as stated in Homer’s Iliad. Zeus, the king of the gods, had many human attributes, among which was an admiration for beautiful young men – and when he saw (or heard of) Ganymede, his desire to have the boy with him was so overwhelming that he sent an eagle (or perhaps went himself in the form of an eagle, as Ovid says in his Metamorphoses) to snatch him and bring him to Mt. Olympus. Zeus granted Ganymede the gift of eternal youth and appointed him cup-bearer to the gods. Thorvaldsen depicts Ganymede holding out a goblet to the gods on Mt. Olympus. The work is not only an example of the sculptor’s neoclassical themes, but also embodies his fidelity and that of neoclassicists to the Ancients’ ideals of beauty, described by Jo- hann Joachim Winckelmann as “noble simplicity and quiet grandeur” in his Gedanken über die Nachahmung der griechischen Werke in der Malerei und Bildhauerkunst (Reflections on the Imitation of Greek Works in Painting and Sculpture, 1755). The origin of the work was that in the winter of 1803-04 Irina Vorontsova, a Russian countess, commissioned five sculptures from Thorvaldsen on themes drawn from Bertel Thorvaldsen with the Sculpture Hope Original made at Nysø 1839 Adonis Greek mythology, including the stories of Bacchus and Ganymede, as specified in Bronze, Height 198 cm Original made in Rome 1808 their contract of February 1804. Hljómskálagarður park, Reykjavík Bronze, Height 186 cm Hallargarður park, Reykjavík Thorvaldsen’s Ganymede exists in two versions in addition to the one in the National The first open-air work of art erected in Iceland was a bronze cast of a self-portrait by Thor­ Gallery of Iceland: in one Ganymede lifts up the ewer to pour wine into the goblet, valdsen, which was ceremonially unveiled on the artist‘s birthday, 19 November 1875, on In the Hallargarður park, at the corner of Skothúsvegur and Fríkirkjuvegur, stands while in the other he kneels to give Zeus’ eagle a drink. In addition a number of reliefs Austurvöllur in Reykjavík, adjacent to the Cathedral. The sculpture was the gift of Copen- a bronze cast of Adonis, which Thorvaldsen completed in 1808. Adonis is the most and drawings of Ganymede by Thorvaldsen are extant. This Ganymede was in the hagen City Council to the people of Iceland to mark the millennium of the settlement of beautiful and sought-after young man in Greek mythology, the favourite of Aphrodite, collection of the Thorvaldsen Museum in Copenhagen, having been left uncompleted Iceland in 1874. The choice of the gift reflected the artist‘s Icelandic descent, and Icelanders goddess of love and beauty, and the cause of a feud between her and Persephone, in his studio at his death, and later completed for the Museum. It was sold when the were delighted to acquire this work by an artist whom they regarded as one of their own. goddess of the underworld. The bronze belongs to the City of Reykjavík, which had the Museum acquired another exemplar in 1922. It was presented to the National Gallery Thorvaldsen had made the work in Denmark at the urging of Baroness Stampe, although he cast made in 1973 and erected it in the park a year later. The Glyptotek in Munich has of Iceland in 1927 by Johan Hansen, Icelandic consul in Copenhagen. was said to be most reluctant to make a self-portrait. In the sculpture we see Thorvaldsen the sculpture in marble, commissioned by Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria in 1808. at work with his hammer and chisel, apparently having taken a break, leaning against his sculpture of the goddess Hope. Other works by Bertel Thorvaldsen in Reykjavík In 1931 the Thorvaldsen sculpture was removed from Austurvöllur to make way for a statue of Jón Sigurðsson, hero of the Icelandic campaign for self-determination, by sculptor Einar Jónsson (1874-1954). Thorvaldsen was moved to Hljómskálagarður park, where he looks out over the Lake from a tall pedestal. Another copy of the statue may be seen in Central Park, New York. In the apartment of sculptor Einar Jónsson, on the top floor of the Einar Jónsson Museum, this piece may be seen, a plaster work about 30 cm in height.

Mercury about to Kill Argus Baptismal font Original made in Rome 1818 Original made in Rome 1827 Marble, Height 174.5 cm Marble, Height 90 cm Commercial College of Iceland Christ Reykjavík Cathedral Original made in Rome 1821 In 1989 the marble sculpture Mercury about to Kill Argus was placed in the keeping of Bronze, Height 200 cm The baptismal font of Reykjavík Cathedral is probably Thorvaldsen‘s best-known At Fossvogur Church the Commercial College. The work was a gift to the Icelandic nation from businessman work in Iceland. The artist presented it to his ancestral land, Iceland, in 1827, as stat- Svend Kragh Petersen. The original was made by Thorvaldsen in Rome in 1818, and this Near the entrance to Fossvogur Church stands a bronze cast of one of Thorvald- ed in an inscription on the reverse. The font was installed in the Cathedral in 1839, marble replica was made by the Thorvaldsen Museum in 1860. It remained in the museum sen’s most popular sculptures, depicting the risen Christ with his arms spread wide, and it may be deemed the Cathedral’s greatest treasure. The font is a square pedes- until 1944, and was sold when the museum acquired another marble exemplar from 1822. showing the nail-marks in his hands and feet. The work was completed in 1821, and tal of white marble with reliefs on all sides and a floral wreath around the baptismal in 1839 an over-sized marble version was installed above the altar of Vor Frue Kirke in basin. On the front is a depiction of John the Baptist baptising in the Jordan Mercury was the messenger of the gods, and the Roman god of commerce and business. Copenhagen. Replicas of the work are found in churches all over the world, varying river; on the north side the same two characters are seen in boyhood with the Virgin Mercury is said to have been sent by his father, Jupiter, to free his mistress who was in size and material. This cast, which stands in the Fossvogur cemetery in the area Mary; and on the south side Jesus Blessing the Little Children. On the reverse are being held by the monstrous giant Argus, who had eyes all over his body. Mercury plays allocated for interment of ashes, was presented to Reykjavík Cemeteries in 1962 by the three angels and an inscription. Similar, earlier fonts are found in Brahe-Trolleborg his pipes to Argus until he grows sleepy and closes his many eyes. At that point Mercury Cremation Society. castle church in Fyn, Denmark, and Helligåndskirken in central Copenhagen. grasps his sword to slay the giant.