The Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen (1770-1844) was recognized in all of Europa as one of the leading artists of the time. He lived in Rome from 1797-1838, where he built a comprehensive collection of plaster casts, mainly after antique sculpture. The collection is unique because of its importance as a database of shapes and motives for one of Denmark's most important artists, but also because of its good condition. The collection is therefore a valuable source when we want to understand the trade and distribution of casts in the first half of the 19th century - not just in a Danish context, but an international one too. In Thorvaldsen and his Plaster Casts, Ph.D and former director of Den Kgl. Afstobningssamling (the Royal Cast Collection), Jan Zahle, presents a complete mapping and reevaluation of Thorvaldsens Museum's cast collection. With Zahle's research of the collection, the Roman market for casts and their importance for Thorvaldsen's art, a completely new base has been created for studying cast collections. The publication also presents a rich, and in some cases previously unknown, collection of sources from archives in Denmark and other countries and from the digital archives of the museum.

Book Information
ISBN 9788771843590
Author Jan Zahle
Format Hardback
Page Count 652
Imprint Aarhus Universitetsforlag
Publisher Aarhus Universitetsforlag