100 × 70 cm.
The exhibition featuring the internationally renowned duo Elmgreen & Dragset presents a refreshing angle on Thorvaldsen today. The work ”Mercury (Socks)” features Thorvaldsen’s ”Mercury about to Kill Argus” in sports socks with blue stripes and a sweat band on one wrist.
100 × 70 cm.
The exhibition featuring the internationally renowned duo Elmgreen & Dragset presents a refreshing angle on Thorvaldsen today. The work ”Jason (Briefs)” features Thorvaldsen’s ”Jason with the Golden Fleece” wearing white briefs.
100 × 70 cm.
The exhibition featuring the internationally renowned duo Elmgreen & Dragset presents a refreshing angle on Thorvaldsen today. The work ”Shepherd Boy (Tank Top)” features Thorvaldsen’s ”Shepherd Boy” wearing a white tank top.
99 × 61 cm.
Thorvaldsen’s sculpture of Venus, the goddess of beauty and love, was one of his most popular works. The apple that she is holding in her hand is one she won in a beauty competition among the goddesses by promising Prince Paris he shall have the most beautiful woman in the world. The sculpture shows us Venus after the beauty competition, holding the proof of her beauty up in front of her appreciative eyes.
96 × 62 cm.
The sculpture of Jason with the Golden Fleece from 1803 was the work which assured Thorvaldsen of his breakthrough on the international art scene. According the Classical mythology, Jason is a prince who, in order to become king, must fetch a golden fleece that is guarded by a dangerous dragon far away in a sacred grove. The sculpture shows Jason proudly standing there the moment after he has managed to gain possession of the fleece and is about to return home to his kingdom.
87 × 61,5 cm.
This lion was created in 1825 in order to watch over the memory of a famous man: the Austrian field marshal and diplomat Karl Philip Schwarzenberg (1771-1820). However the memorial of which the lion was to have formed part was never realised.
99,5 × 67,5 cm.
The ceilings in the museum are the biggest Pompeii-inspired decorations in northern Europe and extend over almost 4000 square metres. The decoration was made at the same time as the museum was being built from 1839 to 1848 and was the work of a team of over 40 mainly younger artists, both painters, sculptors and stuccateurs. Many of them were still students in the Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen at the same time as they were working on the museum.
99,5 × 67,5 cm.
Poster with various motifs from the museum: ceilings, floors, corridors and paintings. The principal motif is Thorvaldsen’s sculpture of Cupid and Psyche. The relationship between the god of love, Cupid, and the mortal princess Psyche is a dramatic story. The couple have to surmount many trials before, with the help of the gods, they can finally win each other.
100 x 70 cm.
Poster for the exhibition "Thorvaldsen Revisited". Rudolph Suhrlandt painted this portrait of Thorvaldsen in 1810. The portrait can be seen today in the collection of paintings on the first floor. In the exhibition it was possible to see part of Thorvaldsen’s personal possessions, including a pair of glasses, a medicine chest and a flintlock pistol along with drawings and sculptures from his private collection.
52 x 35 cm.
Thorvaldsen’s drawing from 1814 is a preparatory work for a relief. According to the myth, the centaur Nessus had the task of ensuring that Hercules and Deianira came safely across the River Lykormas. But the story takes a dramatic turn when Nessus instead carries Deianira off.