The Danish neoclassical sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen (1770–1844), who lived most of his life in Rome, was not only one of Europe’s most soughtafter artists; he was also a collector. In addition to his own works and drawings, he built extensive collections of paintings, prints, drawings and books – and of ancient artefacts from Egyptian, Greek and Roman antiquity: coins, lockets, containers, vases, lamps, fragments of sculpture and more. He also acquired a large collection of plaster casts, primarily after ancient sculptures and reliefs, but also of works dating from the Renaissance and up until his own lifetime. Thanks to Thorvaldsen’s bequest to the city of Copenhagen, his birthplace, all of these collections are still largely intact and well preserved at his museum. Home to a total of 657 plaster casts, the Thorvaldsen Museum’s cast collection is unique for several reasons: The collection offers us insight into the sculptor’s working methods and the development of his work because it served a clear function as an image bank of forms, motifs and subjects for Thorvaldsen’s own endeavours. Furthermore, the dual fact that the collection is so well preserved and was established over a relatively brief period of time makes it a valuable example illuminating the trade and distribution of plaster casts during the first half of the nineteenth century. These areas of study form the central focal point of Volume I of this publication. Volume II contains a catalogue of the individual objects in the cast collection, while Volume III collects the overviews, inventories, concordances and primary sources referred to in the first two volumes. Arising out of many years of study of Thorvaldsen’s cast collection conducted by their author, the classical archaeologist Jan Zahle, these books contain comprehensive source material from the period, much of it previously unknown.

One of the earliest portrait photographs -- a daguerreotype -- represents the Danish artist Bertel Thorvaldsen. In spite of the fact that the photograph is signed and dated there has been doubts about the dating and the location of the taking of the picture. Starting from the photography itself as well as the historical facts the author sets the photography in its proper context. Written sources material and other pictures are presented to throw light on the photographer, the French businessman A C T Neubourg's work in Scandinavia. Furthermore, the reader gains an insight into the exposure as it is being reflected in the picture where an older conception of art meets the new age of photography. The book also contains an appendix by Jens Frederiksen (The Royal Academy of Fine Arts School of Architecture, Copenhagen) on A C T Neubourg's camera, lens and daguerreotypes.

This volume is dedicated to Bertel Thorvaldsen (1770- 1844), a Danish sculptor of international fame during the XIX century. Born in Copenhagen in 1770, he spent more than forty years in Italy, maintaining a large workshop in Rome. When he eventually returned to his native land in 1838 he was more known in Europe than in Denmark. But in the following years it became rather vice versa. Obviously this is connected with the fact that in Copenhagen he could not keep the close contact he had in Rome with the international art community and art market in the cultural capital of Europe. As a matter of fact only within the last 30 years has Thorvaldsen regained his rightful place in the European art historical context and he is considered as an outstanding representative of the Neoclassical period in sculpture. In fact, his work has often been compared to that of Antonio Canova and he became the foremost artist in the field after Canova's death in 1822. The really strong point of this book is that it precisely links together Thorvaldsen's art with a broad international, artistic context and thus contributes to a more faceted understanding of his work.