visit on
account of its truly Danish scenery. Here Thorwaldsen found his best
home in Denmark; here he seemed to increase his fame, and here a
series of his last beautiful bas-reliefs were produced.

Baron Stampe was one of nature's noblest-minded men; his hospitality
and his lady's daughterly affection for Thorwaldsen opened a home for
him here, a comfortable and good one. A great energetic power in the
baroness incited his activity; she attended him with a daughter's
care, elicited from him every little wish, and executed it. Directly
after his first visit to Nysoee, a short tour to Moen's chalk cliffs
was arranged, and during the few days that were passed there, a little
_atelier_ was erected in the garden at Nysoee, close to the canal which
half encircles the principal building; here, and in a corner room of
the mansion, on the first floor facing the sea, most of Thorwaldsen's
works, during the last years of his life, were executed: "Christ
Bearing the Cross," "The Entry into Jerusalem," "Rebecca at the Well,"
his own portrait-statue, Oehlenschlaeger's and Holberg's busts, etc.
Baroness Stampe was in faithful attendance on him, lent him a helping
hand, and read aloud for him from Holberg. Driving abroad, weekly
concerts, and in the evenings his fondest play, "The Lottery," were
what most easily excited him, and on these occasions he would say many
amusing things. He has represented the Stampe family in two
bas-reliefs: in the one, representing the mother, the two daughters,
and the youngest son, is the artist himself; the other exhibits the
father and the two eldest sons.

All circles sought to attract Thorwaldsen; he was at every great
festival, in every great society, and every evening in the theatre by
the side of Oehlenschlaeger. His greatness was allied to a mildness, a
straightforwardness, that in the highest degree fascinated the
stranger who approached him for the first time. His _atelier_ in
Copenhagen was visited daily; he therefore felt himself more
comfortable and undisturbed at Nysoee. Baron Stampe and his family
accompanied him to Italy in 1841, when he again visited that country.
The whole journey, which was by way of Berlin, Dresden, Frankfort, the
Rhine towns, and Munich, was a continued triumphal procession. The
winter was passed in Rome, and the Danes there had a home in which
they found a welcome.

The following year Thorwaldsen was again in Denmark, and at his
favorite place, Nysoee. On Chri