All language subtitles for [1949] Carl Theodor Dreyer - Thorvaldsen (EN)

THORVALDSEN

Director: Carl Theodor Dreyer
and Preben Frank

Bertel Thorvaldsen was born
in Copenhagen in 1770.

He was the son of lcelandic
sculptor Gotskalk Thorvaldsen

and Karen Dagnes from Jylland,
daughter of a school teacher.

He studied
at the Danish Academy of Art.

In 1797 he went on a study tour
to Rome and stayed there until 1838,

when he returned to Denmark
as a world famous artist.

He died in 1844. In 1839
he had sculpted a model of himself.

Thorvaldsen Leaning
on the Statue of Hope -

one of the statues
he liked the most

and whose classical austerity

brings out the human warmth
of his own statue.

The statue of Hope
is a mark of the calm and purity

that characterises
all Thorvaldsen's works.

He avoided anything
excessive and affected,

as seen in the statue of Hebe,
Greek goddess of youth and beauty,

in the graceful folds of her clothes

with her tunic undone
over her right shoulder.

Ten years later he made
a new statue of Hebe.

This time the tunic
covers both shoulders

and hangs down in harsh folds.

The style has become classical.

Thorvaldsen depicts mostly youthful
figures unaware of their charm,

as seen in the grouping
of Cupid and Psyche.

Thorvaldsen expresses emotion

through the rhythm
and line of his figures,

as seen in this statue,
Venus with the Apple.

It is the fine lines of the body
which reveal her love,

not her facial expression.

In the bas-relief of The Graces
Listening to Cupid's Song,

the effect is produced
by their graceful poses

rather than their facial expressions.

Thorvaldsen created movement
in the smooth rhythms of his statues

that merge together harmoniously.

Thorvaldsen usually sketched first
on a piece of paper.

A long time could elapse between
the first sketches and the finished work.

This was the case with Mercury.

Many of his statues and reliefs
seem almost to have been dreamt.

For example, Cupid and Hymen
lighting the wedding torches.

There is a graceful irony in the scene
where Cupid complains to Venus

that he has been stung by a bee.

The grouping of Achilles with
a dead Penthesilea is just a maquette.

But the contours of the statue
reveal a profound sadness,

perhaps an expression of the sorrow
experienced by the artist himself.

Also revealing of
Thorvaldsen's innermost feelings

is the bas-relief
of three water nymphs

luring Hylas
who is lost to their charms.

Two years later Thorvaldsen
returns to the same motif.

This time the work symbolises
the emancipation of the artist

and we see Hylas
resisting the women's charms.

The Night relief was sculpted during
the final hours of a sleepless night.

Night flies down silently to Earth,

carrying in her arms
her two children Sleep and Death.

At dawn Thorvaldsen effortlessly
created Day Breaking Over Earth.

The tenderness
a mother feels for her children

is seen in Thorvaldsen's
bas-relief Caritas.

In his final years, he produced
the great Christian figures

which would adorn the cathedral
in Copenhagen.

For the pediment at the entrance,
he created John the Baptist preaching

and turned the church's interior
into an artistic entity

with Christ above the altar
and the 12 apostles in the nave.

Thorvaldsen sketched
the Christ figure many times,

his arms outstretched

or raised to heaven,

blessing or praying.

Christ inviting people to approach him
stands there today,

just as Denmark's great sculptor
envisaged and created him.