Thorvaldsens Museum. En Fremstilling af alle Kunsterens Arbeider, der ere samlede i Museet; ordnede after Afdelingerne, ledsaget af et Omrids af Thorvaldsens Livsforhold og Kunstnervirksomhed ved H.P. Holst. - Musée Thorvaldsen. Recueil de tous les ouvrages de Thorvaldsen, rangés dans le même ordre où ils se trouvent placés dans les salles du musée, avec une esquisse biographique de l'artiste par Mr H.P. Holst.
RA Collection: Book
Record number
07/3191
Variant Title
Musée Thorvaldsen. Recueil
Imprint
Kjøbenhavn: 1851, forlagt af Bing & Ferslews lithographiske Etablissement Conturene udförte og trykte sammesteds Texten hos Bianco Luno.
Physical Description
[2], 10 p., frontis., 120 pl. (incl 5 dble pl.) [i.e. 115 pl.]; 336 mm.
General Note
The five double plates carry two plate-numbers each (nos. 2/3, 13/14, 35/36, 37/38, 114/115).
Contents
[Frontis., t.p.] - Albert Thorvaldsen. En biografisk Skizze. Albert Thorvaldsen ... - [Plates].
Responsibility Note
The frontispiece portrait is signed as painted by C.W. Eckersberg and engraved by E.C.W. Eckersberg. The numbered plates are unsigned.
References
The impact of Thorvaldsen's work is traced in B. Jørnæs, Billedhuggeren Bertel Thorvaldsens liv og værk (1993); Künstlerleben im Rom: Bertel Thorvaldsen, der Dänische Bildhauer und seine deutschen Freunde, ed. G. Bott [exhibition catalogue](1991); The age of Neoclassicism [exhibition catalogue] (1972); H. Fletcher, 'John Gibson: an English pupil of Thorvaldsen', in Apollo, 96/128 (1972 October), p.336-40; J.B. Hartmann, 'Canova, Thorvaldsen and Gibson', in English miscellany, 6 (1955), p.205-35; R. Zeitler, Klassizismus und Utopia: Interpretationen zu Werken von David, Canova, Carstens, Thorvaldsen, Koch (1954).
Summary Note
The text is printed in Danish and French in parallel columns.
The Thorvaldsens Museum had been opened in Copenhagen in 1848. It contained works donated to the Danish state by Thorvaldsen in 1837 - consisting not only of his own works but also of some ancient sculpture and modern paintings and works of art.
The frontispiece is an engraving of Eckersberg's portrait of 'A. Thorvaldsen'. The numbered plates are outline lithographs, captioned in Danish and French. Plates 1-117 show Thorvaldsen's sculptures (of Christian and pagan subjects); 118, his last drawing (a figure of Sculpture seated on the shoulder of Jupiter); 119, 120, 'Plan af Thorvaldsens Museum. Förste (Anden) Etage'.
Though most of his works are now conserved in Denmark, Thorvaldsen received commissions from all over Europe. His first large commission came from a British patron, Thomas Hope. On Canova's death in 1822 he had been recognised as the leading Neoclassical sculptor.
Provenance
The verso of the front free-endpaper is inscribed in pencil, 'S:A:H.', i.e. S.A. Hart, librarian of the Royal Academy 1864-81. First purchased for RA Library in 1872 (see RA Annual Report for 1872, p. 23). Listed again as purchased in 1880 (see Annual Report, p. 44).
Copy Note
Before the rear endpaper a sheet of blue paper has been tipped in carrying three drawings in ink of human heads.
Binding Note
19th-century half red morocco, red cloth-covered boards; gilt-decorated spine lettered 'Thorwaldsens Museum' and '1851'.