Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - XI. The Thorvaldsen museum
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
Chap. XI.
THE THORVALDSEN MUSEUM.
175
is here done justice to; he looks inspired, his mouth
half opened, his dress—in spite of the unbecoming
character of modern male attire—hangs easily upon him,
and under Thorvaldsen’s chisel becomes inoffensive, if not
graceful. “ Ganymede feeding the Eagle of Jupiter
one of the prettiest of the sculptor’s conceptions; the
face of the boy is beautiful, while the eye of the eagle
flashes fire in the very marble. Endless are the
bas-reliefs of Loves, each prettier than the other: well was
Thorvaldsen termed the sculptor of Love; no one ever
equalled him in the number of such compositions.
“Adonis,”—the original is in theGlyptothec at Munich,
—graceful and listless, tired after hunting : the marble
is I hear much improved upon, and I hope refined.
Beautiful though the statue be, it does not bring to my
mind the hunter boy from whose blood the graceful
wind-flower sprang : he is somewhat too fleshy, and
resembles more the pampered favourite of Hadrian, the
young Antinous.
On, on! we must not linger:—and now we have the
“Herds Boy” (Hyrde-dreng), own brother to Adonis.
While Thorvaldsen was engaged in the execution of the
Adonis, the model long reposed in the attitude here
represented: so enchanted was Thorvaldsen with his
pose that he struck him off at once, seating his
dog Teverino by his side. It is one of his very best
productions, and rivals the “ Mercury,” though I for
one can never allow that it equals it. Mercury is the
triumph of the ideal, and cannot be put in the same
category with the graceful model of a Boman peasant.
Any day, on traversing the Campagna, or by the shores
of the Mediterranean, your eye will light on fishers,
shepherds, groups endowed with a grace, an abandon
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
