Original subtitles

Bertel Thorvaldsen was born in Copenhagen in 1770.

He was the son of Icelandic 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.