The Thorvaldsens Museum Archives

Comment on 3.12.1799

In his letter dated 12.10.1799 to the Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen, Thorvaldsen had announced that he was sending a marble bust of Homer to Copenhagen.
The bust was presented to Abildgaard as a gift from Thorvaldsen to his teacher (see letter dated 28.7.1805 to Abildgaard). The bust is now in Thorvaldsens Museum, A751, acquired in the auction in 1850 after Abildgaard’s widow.
The marble bust is a free copy in Hermæan form after an antique bust of Homer in the Museo Nazionale in Naples, cf. two casts of the bust in Thorvaldsen’s collection of casts, L137 and L138.

Last updated 08.01.2018