Bertel Thorvaldsen

Bertel Thorvaldsen (1770–1844) was Denmark's first internationally celebrated sculptor, born in Copenhagen to an Icelandic wood-carver. He won a Royal Danish Academy gold medal in 1793 and reached Rome on its stipend in 1797, working there for forty-one years.

His Jason of 1801, praised by Antonio Canova, established him as Canova's heir in heroic neoclassicism; his monuments include the Copernicus statue in Warsaw and the tomb of Pope Pius VII in St Peter's. When he returned in 1838 he was hailed as a national hero, and the Thorvaldsen Museum was built beside Christiansborg to house his work.