THORVALDSEN'S SCULPTURES

Thorvaldsen first and foremost took his subjects from the mythology of antiquity: the goddess of beauty, Venus, the cupbearer of the gods, Ganymede, and the god of love, Cupid, are examples of this. In addition Thorvaldsen created tomb monu­ments for among others Pope Pius VII in St. Peter’s in Rome, memo­rials to the inventor of printing, Gutenberg, for the public square in Mainz and the astronomer Copernicus for a central square in Warsaw, just to mention a few. In Denmark too Thorvaldsen was given major commissions. Best known are the sculptures of Christ and the Apostles in the cathedral, the Church of Our Lady, in Copenhagen.