Comment on Thorvaldsen and His Ganymede and the Eagle
It is interesting to compare the account of Thorvaldsen in Mario Praz’s Il Gusto Neoclassico (Rome, 1939) and its light-hearted appreciation of the artist (and his recent detractors) with the relevant chapter in Rudolf Zeitler’s Klassizismus und Utopia (Stockholm, 1954). Professor Jørgen B. Hartmann is preparing a text on Thorvaldsen, and until its appearance the standard 19th-century texts are to be used along with the excellent catalogue of the Thorvaldsen Museum (especially the 1966 French edition with its essay on Thorvaldsen’s technique), the Museum’s publications, Professor Hartmann’s numerous articles, and the monumental Thorvaldsen Portrætbuster by Else Kai Sass.
Last updated 24.09.2015