Regency-era Life Portraits in Marble

These twin busts are portraits carved from life, and likely depict two young women from a noble family. They date from the Regency era, which is reflected in their fashionable curled hair styles. The busts - whose features are reminiscent of sculptures of antiquity - sit atop two period ebonised wooden columns designed with a neoclassical style. The dark colour of these columns contrasts with the white marble of the busts, ensuring that the ladies’ faces remain the focus of the viewer. The busts are believed to have been carved by Bertel Thorvaldsen, a preeminent neoclassical sculptor renowned across Europe.

Bertel Thorvaldsen

Bertel Thorvaldsen was born in November 1770 in Copenhagen as the son of a wood-carver who made decorative carvings for large ships. Thorvaldsen grew up with little education or knowledge of high culture, but his artistic ability to carve and sculpt was noted from a young age. At the age of 11, and with help from many around him, Thorvaldsen was admitted to the Royal Danish Academy of Art, initially as a draftsman but later at the modeling school. He won a number of prizes during his studies and was granted a Royal stipend to study in Rome, where he arrived in March 1797.

In Rome, Thorvaldsen’s studio was located near the Spanish steps. He was mentored by the Danish archaeologist Georg Zoega, which sparked Thorvaldsen’s love of depicting themes of antiquity in his statues and his appreciation for neoclassical themes and style. Thorvaldsen’s first notable success was his model for a statue of Jason and the Golden Fleece, created in 1801. It attracted the attention of the most popular sculptor in Rome - Antonio Canova - but it took another two years for Thorvaldsen to receive the commission to create the statue in marble. This commission would tie Thorvaldsen to Italy for the next sixteen years.

With the commendation of Canova under his belt, Thorvaldsen quickly became internationally famous. He completed a number of commissions for important clients such as Ludwig I of Barvaria, Lord Byron, and the Vatican. He produced a tomb monument of Pope Pius VII, marking him as the only non-Italian to be commissioned by the Vatican. Thorvaldsen became so popular with the aristocracy of Europe that he was forced to expand his workshop in 1805 and enlist the help of assistants to cut the marble, whilst Thorvaldsen remained in charge of initial sketches and finishing touches.

In 1819, Thorvaldsen visited to Denmark and was commissioned to produce a series of sculptures of Christ and the Apostles for the rebuilding of Vor Frue Kirke, now known as the Copenhagen Cathedral. Thorvaldsen designed them, but returned to Rome as they were produced - these statues were not completed until 1838, when he returned permanently to his home country. The Christ figure from this series is credited as being one of the most widely reproduced religious statue in the world.

Thorvaldsen was received back in Denmark as a national hero, given his international reach and success. He began to fund the construction of the Thorvaldsen Museum near Christiansborg Palace, which would house the works that he had created and collected. The museum would become the first in the world to be dedicated to a single artist, and was also the first public museum in Denmark.

Bertel Thorvaldson died in March 1844. As per his request, his body was reinterred in the courtyard of the Thorvaldsen Museum in 1848 shortly before the institution’s opening. Thorvaldsen left behind a key legacy as a pioneer of neoclassical art with a flair for the antique Greek style, and is often heralded as Canova’s successor. His works can be found in major global collections, such as the Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum New York, the Alte Nationalgalerie, and the Victoria and Albert Museum.