The Sun.
London, England, 1844-04-09 00:00:00

THORWALDSEN.

The first efficient patron of this great artist vas an
Englishman. In the year 1800, Thomas Hope, who
had heard of the skill of the young Danish sculptor
at Rome, ordered from him a copy of his colossal
statue of "Jason," in marble, and enabled Bartel
Thorvaldsen to remain and prosecute his studies in
the capital of the arts.
Thorvaldsen (it is thus he wrote his own name)
was born in 1770, during a journey made by his
family from Iceland to Copenhagen. His father,
Golskalk Thorwaldsen, was a carver of figure-heads
for ships, his mother the daughter of a clergyman.
The child showed an early disposition for drawing,
and was placed by his parents, whose circumstances
were narrow, at the Arts Academy of Copenhagen,
where he was received without charge. He began
early to exercise his skill, it is said, upon the figure-
heads at which his father laboured, and at which the
young Thorvaldsen would work when he carried his
dinner to the carver at the wharf. At the academy
he gained no prize, however, until 1787, and the
great silver medal two years later, when the historical
painter, Abildg,.aard took a fancy to him, and gave
him further instruction in the general principles of
art. In 1791, Thorvaldsen gained the small gold
medal for his composition of " Heliodorus chased
from the Temple," and at the same time the pa-
tronage of the Minister of State, Count Reventlow.
In 1793, his mezzo-relievo of "Peter healing a Lame
Man at the Gates of the Temple," obtained for the
young man the great gold medal and the three-
years' travelling studentship. But before he took
advantage of the means thus afforded to him for
visiting the wonders of art in the south, he devoted
a couple of years to labour at home, and completed
several pieces of sculpture.
On the 20th of May, 1796, Thorvaldsen left Co-
penhagen in a Danish ship of war ; but the voyage of
the young sculptor was so tedious and dangerous that
he did not reach Rome till May, 1797, having passed
by Malta, Naples, and Palermo. The presence of the
great works of art which here surrounded him, if they
inspired him with energy and emulation, filled him
often at the same time with despair ; and stories are
told of works which were completed by the young
man, and then broken to pieces and thrust aside in a
corner of his studio. However others might praise
him, he was the last to be contented with himself.
His three years' salary was come to an end, and he
had made preparations to return to Denmark, with
the clay model of the Jason statue, which he had
completed for the academy (after having broken up
the first figure of the natural size), when Mr. Hope
ordered the marble of him, and enabled him, by his
munificent remuneration, to remain in Rome. It is
to this timely patronage that we probably owe much
that has been left us by the greatest of modern
masters.

Wealth and honour now flowed in upon him. All the
great patrons of art thropghout Europe were anxions
for works from his hands, and he remained in Rome
until the year 1819, occupied with prodigious activity.
Having to make a monument for the Swiss who fell
at Paris in 1792 (the wounded Lion), he determined
to visit the place where the monument was to be
erected, and at the same time to take the opportunity
of revisiting his native country. While in Copen-
hagen the Government ordered from him statues of
the " Saviour," the "Baptist," and the " Twelve
Apostles," for the Frauenkirche, then newly built;
and it was with these works that he occupied himself,
especially on his return to Rome.
He returned to Copenhagen finally in 1837, having
completed, in the forty-two years of his labour, about
two hundred great works and a great number f busts.

A series of outlines from 'ihorraldsen's works
(Stuttgard, 1839), from which the above biographical
sketch is taken, mentions the English possessors of
some of his principal
,pieces. Mr. Hope was the pur-
chaser of the " Jason,' the " Psyche," and the " Genius
and Art ;" the Duke of Bedford of the has -relief of
" Briseiz ;" Lord Lucan of the famous "Day and
Night ;" Lord Ashburton of the " Hebe ;" and Lord
F. Egerton of the " Ganymede."

We have received the following from an eminent
sculptor, to whom Thorwaldsen was known, and the
details he gives of the character of the great man, of
whom he himself is a worthy disciple, and whose in-
tense love of art for its own sake, he shares, will be
read with interest :

"Before leaving England, Lady It - took me to
Chantry's studio, that he might give me some advice
how to study. A footman opened the door, and
Chantry's conversation was all about dukes and
royalty. He never spoke a word to me, but sneered
several times at the idea of any one going to Italy to
study.
" Three weeks after that, one fine morning saw me
knocking at a door in a common stair on the Pincian-
hill at Rome, covered with names in chalk, a mode
adopted by people instead of leaving their cards, on
not finding any one at home. I was fortunate ; and
the artist himself opened the door, in a dressing-
gown, old and worn, and his long grey hair flowing
on his shoulders, round a square-shaped head, a
broad and rather low forehead, under which shone a
pair of the mildest grey eyes I had ever seen. Bene-
volence and simplicity marked his character. He
carried a piece of clay in one hand, and a modelling
stick in another. The room I entered, upon his cour-
teously asking us to do so (Wyatt, the sculptor, was
with me), had a plain tile floor ; the tables were
covered with prints and casts, and the walls were
hung with early pictures of young artists and parts
of his " Triumph of Alexander." He was making a
small model in clay of his equestrian statue of
" Maximilian of Bavaria." I used the name of Lady
R- as commissioned to do. He immediately in-
vited me to call on him whenever I chose, at this, his
private studio ; and said that any work I wished to
copy in the collection of his works I was at liberty
to do ; that all that was necessary was to inform the
custode of the studio, and the work would be brought
out for me ; and that if I had no materials of my
own, everything in that shape was at my service. I
lost no time, ani commenced a study of his Mer-
cury: Every day this benevolent, and good, and
true artist came into the principal studio about mid-
day; he would come up to me, praise my work first,
and then point out errors, and as the most positive
language, take the modelling tool himself, and by a
few strokes inform me of my error, and in a manner
u hich excited in me the most devotional feeling to
this father in art.

" This conduct was uniform, and during my resi-
dence in Rome, for two years, I never experienced
any difference. I had the use of his study whenever
I chose ; and whenever I got up a statue at my own
place, Thorwaldsen was ever ready to come from the
the Piazza 13arbarini, to the Piazza del Popolo, where
I was, to give me his advice ; he has come these two
miles
,in a day in July, found me out, written his
name on my door with a piece of chalk, and that he
would be back in one hour, as it might be. He would
then go off to some other student to perform a like
office, assist in arranging his draperies, and then re-
turn to me. All this he did for me, and he never
expected, and I never paid him one farthing. Similar
traits in his character are innumerable, and I believe
no artist yet asked his advice that he did not feel
anxious to give it ; he really lived, as I have heard
him say an artist ought to do, for art itself. Though
simple in his manners, he was the companion of
princes, apparently estimating them only as they
loved art, and approximated to the artist. The present
King of Bavaria was his pupil and friend. The Giar-
dino di Malta, belonging to his Majesty opposite
Thorwaldsen's studio, was itself a studio. Everybody
loved Thorwaldsen, and the enthusiasm of his coun-
trymen, when he returned to Copenhagen, having
bequeathed the results of his long life to them, speaks
volumes as to the man. _ _ _

"Among his principal works were the model of
the Triumph of Alexander, a has relief, 140 feet
long and 3 feet high, conceived and executed in three
months, Thorwaldsen having volunteered to execute
it for Napoleon's residence, the Pope's Palace, on the
Quirinal, showing the most masterly modelling ever
seen. His Mercury slaying Argus is unrivalled, and
among a collection of the antique appears where it
ought to be. His equestrian statue of Poniatowsky
is a large work, not equally worthy of him ; but
Poniatowsky standing is perfect, only eclipsed by
Flaxman's Sir John Moore. His great group of St.
John preaching in the Wilderness, is charaterised by
a species of Raphaelesque expression, and one portion,
a youth leaning on the shoulder of an old man, is the
most divine thing ever seen ; the intellectual expres-
sion of calm old age, and the awakening intelligence
of the youth, elevate the soul to a degree not to be
conceived unless seen. His Saviour and the Twelve
Apostles, a colossal work—Christ being eighteen feet
high, and the others twelve each—are wonderful
draperied figures, characteristic to the highest degree
of the different men ; the draperies seem as if one
could raise them, they are so exquisitely cast and
executed. His great monument of the Pope Pius, in
St. Peter's, contrasts unfavourably with Canova, who
was the greatest artist of the two in the nudo—wit-
ness Palamedes, the Nixus-Theseus, and the Centaur,
contrasted with Thorwaldsen's Mars; but in female
form and simple beauty of expression, Thorwaldsen
was immeasurably his superior, witness the contrast
of the two Hebe s, Night and Morning, Hercules
and 10, and the multitude of beautiful little exqui-
site bas-reliefs Thorwaldsen was ever producing. Art
must feel his loss as European ; and it is to the ho-
nour of our country that Mr. Hope gave him his
first commission, Jason with the Golden Fleece. I
hava always understood that Thorwaldsen was sent to
Rome by the academy at Copenhagen, having got a
passage to Naples in a Danish frigate, and that for
the first two years in Italy he did nothing except
study the German and Italian languages, and when
his time was nearly expired he began his Jason,
which contrasted favourably with Canova's style ; it
was a novelty; it was seen aid appreciated by Mr.
Hope, and thus was fixed Thorwaldsen's career in I
Rome.

" Re had A uatural daughter, a very beautiful wo-

man, Who has been married to a Baron -, Gentle-
man of the Bedchamber of the King of Denmark.
"He was about five feet nine inches in height
and a portrait, lately published of him, and which
may be seen at Molten° s, is a perfect likeness."

AME RICAN PAPERS.

The following are from the file of American jour'
nals received by the Montezuma :
A medical man, who has lived in Montreal for some
time, has been detected at the head of an organised
band of young thieves, who robbed under his direc-
tion and carried their booty to him. A shopkeeper in
good circumstances and respectably connected is under
recognizance for no less a crime than that of breaking
through the partition wall of his own house, into his
neighbour's, and robbing him of property to a large
amount.

SHOCKING MURDER.—The Natchez Courier gives
the following particulars of a dreadful murder recently
perpetrated in Louisiana :
A Miss Demoss was killed about the 14th of Fe-
bruary, near Minden, Claiborne parish, Louisiana.
She left the house of a neighbour in the evening to
return to the house of her father, a respectable planter,
but not arriving, a search was commenced, and a
young man, by name Lambwright, was met in the
woods. Upon the searching party proposing to go up
a certain branch, he stated that it was no use, he had
been there hunting, &c. They did go, however, and
found her dead. She had been violated, severely
beaten, and then her head was held under water to
finish the work of death. Some other circumstances
have excited suspicion of Lambwright, but there is
no positive evidence against him. He is a young
man, married, with one child, and before his marriage
had addressed Miss Demoss, and been by her rejected.
GENERAL ROSAS AND MS DAUGHTER.—It iS Said
that Rosas has invested largely in the English funds, With
an eye to a future loss of power, but at present there
is no appearance of a change. His only family is a,
daughter, Dona Manuelita—a young and unmarried
• lady—handsome, fond of music and of dancing, who,
at her father's country residence a few miles out of
the city, entertains his numerous visiters with cour-
tcsy and grace—part of the nature of a Spanish girl.
The general manner and modes of thought of the fair
sex of that fair region, as well as some features in
the character of Rosas, are well illustrated by an hi:
cident—the truth of which lam sure of. Rosas had
caught a certain Colonel, a bitter enemy, one of the
" salvajos Unitarios," and cut off his ears, presenting
them to his daughter. La Senorita Manuelita pre-
served them among the valuables of her parlour table,
and when exhibiting her various curiosities, as young
ladies like to do, she would direct the especial atten-
tion of her visiters to the ears, and narrate, with a
sparkling eye and a heightened colour, that they. once
belonged to her father's enemy, the savage Unitarian
Colonel.

AN OFFER PROMPTLY ACCEPTED.—OR Saturday
morning the Editor of the Advertiser issued a call for
for "four hundred TVhig subscribers" to his daily
paper—the subscriptions to be paid if the Loco-Foco
candidate for the Presidency should be successful'
But if, on the contrary, Henry Clay should succeed°
no pay would be required. When this offer became
k flown about town, subscription papers were opened
at various places; and before night the " four hull"
dred Whig subscribers " were obtained.—Roehester

Democrat.
DEATH OF SALAZAR.—W e have recently con;
versed with a man who left the neighbourhood 01
Santa Fe last summer, who gives us the particulars
of the death of the notorious Salazar, the miscreant
from whom the Texan Santa Fe prisoners received
such brutal treatment while in New Mexico. Ike
was out upon an expedition in the Indian count*
stealing horses, and while thus engaged was waylaid,
killed and scalped, and his body left a prey to the
buzzards and prairie wolves—a fate similar to that to
which he consigned some five or six of the unfortir
nate Texans who were entrusted to his charge be"
tween San Miguel and El Paso del Norte. For these
acts of more than barbarian cruelty he was ordered te,
be tried by the Mexican Government; but so isolate
is Santa } that he found means to escape. A WI
cruel, relentless, heartless villain probably never lived
than Salazar, and it would almost seem an act of re'
tributive justice that he has thus fallen.—New Of'
leans Picayune.
Mr. Southard, the late Treasurer of New Serse/'
whose accounts were lately reported as showing s ue-
ficiency of between 4,000 and 5,000 dolls., has writtl
a letter to the Legislature, in which he offers to sea°
to the State by bond and mortgage upon unincute:
bered real estate, the whole amount of the defalcatiou
reported against him.
(From the New Orleans Picayune of March 3.)
FATAL D VEL.—A fatal duel was fought on Thurs;
day last at -Vicksburg, between Mr. Hammet, editntc't
of the Vicksburg Whig, (and brother of the Mernuvr
of Congress from Mississippi,) and Mr. Ryan,
.edi,t%
of the Sentinel. They fought with pistols. At W
fourth fire Mr. Ryan fell mortally wounded, beinvd
shot directly through the lungs. He died within tel
minutes. In two of the previous fires Mr. Hammet
had been wounded, but the affair was allowed to pr"'
ceed. Our readers may recollect that the same If.
ties had before met and exchanged shots with riT
and that the difficulty was then arranged upon tad
ground. They will remember, too, that Mr. It);
was the successor of Dr. Hagan in the editorial chat
who was killed within the last year.
ere
SUPPOSED MURDER.—WhiIe some labourers - w
employed clearing away the materials of houses lei
cently pulled down at the corner of Walnut ej..
Water-streets—a part of the city of notoriously 70
repute—they discovered in the cellar the a hues
body, buried about six inches below the surface.
is the body 'of a female, evidently young, rot"
teeth are quite perfect, habited in an ordinary blec,i3O
silk dress, black hair, fastened up at the back of I.'l
head with a comb. The trunk of the body, thotigf •
disembowelled by decay, is yet in a good statem°,
preservation, but the flesh is quite gone from "0
head and arms. On the head the hair is nearly
remaining. After the body was deposited to
the earth, a thick coating of lime appears A,O
have been poured over it, doubtless for rot;
double purpose of accelerating decay and prevent:big
any offensive effluvia arising therefrom. Taking 'OO
in connexion with the fact of her being attired in
ordinary everyday dress, there can be little douis
that a murder has been committed. The body ee
supposed to have lain there two or three years. Thfbe
or four years ago a man named Roach resided in to
house, who was a widower, and had a daughter
eighteen years of age living with him. This lot
married a second time, and it was well known this
both he and his second wife severely ill-treated -14
daughter; for she was often seen with her qif
black and her body bruised. At last she suddeVy
disappeared, very soon after which Roach and re
wife abruptly left this country for Ireland, and i`
not since been heard of.
" th,

d to dent'

The Aurora says, ..e young man sentenceL
for aiding in the escape of a quadroon slave hati.'-ifo
pardoned by the Governor of South Carolina. -11 e
however, to be publicly whipped."

DARING FEAT.—Mr. Daly, the celebrated steel v
,
chase rider, betted a wager with Mr. Sefton, of ur-tfjoi
ham, that he would jump the rails and dyke in filthe
the Lincoln stand with the reins in his mouth t0,1,,u,
stirrups over the saddle; and which he cleverly (LI 00
complished after the second race, on a horse he ha"
crossed before.—Stamford Paper.

HARRIED.
tie Teigi;
On the 16th of January, at St. George's Church, Calms
Cape of Good Hope, Thomas William Green, Esq., to P•
Jane, youngest daughter of the late A. Barker, 149'
Waterford, Ireland.
ah
On the 4th inst., at St. Mary's, Hornsey, George,— bcter °
Esq., of Sewardstone, Essex, to Eleanor, eldest dank it
Charles, I'errott, Esq., of Highgate. " Met
On the sth inst., at St. Olave's, Hart-street, atfloae,„
Hurst, only child of the late Jcseph Hurst, Esq., of
ton-place, to Helen, second daughter of Mr. Thomas •
son, of Mark-lane. a JO
On the 6th inst., at St. George's, Hanover-aqua
Lawrence, Esq., of Brunswick House, Windsor, to Elliwia
daughter of Henry Saunders, Esq., Winchester Tower,
sor Castle. gifig'Paf'
On the 6th inst., at Headley, Thomas Lac' bter
arms-yard, Esq., solicitor, to Marianna, eldest &Logo ,
Captain Gustavus Evans, R.N., of lleacrore, Sur
D/ED. 944
On the Gth inst., at Homerton, Robertson, t
late of Kindence, Ross-shire, North Britain, aged 80,ande
On the 24th of January, in camp at Gwalior,
• th
Macqueen, Esq., M.D., of her Majesty's 3d Foot. oftis„
On the 30th of January last, in camp, near. kitoio,''
Charles, youngest son of W. J. Thompson, Esq, 34. bysquare, of the 36th Madras Native Infantry, aged
Jo
On the 12th of February, at Calcutta, Lieutemw
.e.
William Henry Pownall, aged 27. C
On the 22d of February last, iu Bombay, Captain of
Denton, of the Company's Service.
On the 18th ult., at Tours, Anne, wife of R. Ravre '
felef
Stratford-grove, Essex.
On the 29th ult., at Hastings, the Rev. Edward
Mitford, aged 32. se Al
On the 31st ult., at Inchbrayock, near Blonttrpe ,130
the wife of Major-General Archibald Watson, of the
Light Cavalry

London: Printed and Published by MURDO. 1O 0. 10;
No. 112, Strand, Printer, at The Sun Offieet4lol 01
Strand, in the Precinct of the in
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