h
artist, and Felix Mendelssohn, the German composer. Mendelssohn would play
on the piano in Thorvaldsen's studio at Rome, while the sculptor worked on
his models. About this time, too, occurred the famous interview between
Thorvaldsen and Walter Scott. Neither understood the other's language, yet
they took a warm liking to each other. Later, Thorvaldsen modelled a bust
of Sir Walter Scott. Shortly after the Revolution of 1830, the new French
Government of Louis Philippe appointed Thorvaldsen an officer of the Legion
of Honor. At the invitation of King Louis of Bavaria, Thorvaldsen went to
Munich. There he finished his monument to Prince Eugene, the equestrian
statue of Elector Maximilian, and another model of his famous "Adonis,"
ordered by that art-loving King. For the city of Mainz he finished his
model of Gutenberg, for which he refused to receive any pay, while for the
city of Stuttgart he made a monument of Schiller. On Thorvaldsen's return
to Rome, his stay there was brought to an end by an epidemic of cholera.
The government of Denmark sent a royal frigate to Leghorn to bring
Thorvaldsen and all his sculptures back to his native land. Arriving in
Copenhagen, the old artist was received with even greater honor than
before. The Castle of Nysoe was put at his disposal, and there he executed
his last works, among them a statue of himself. In his seventy-second year
he died very suddenly, while attending a performance at the Royal Theatre
at Copenhagen. His obsequies were marked by all the pomp and ceremony due
to a sovereign of Denmark. Four years later, after the completion of the
Thorvaldsen Museum, his remains were laid in the vault that had been
prepared for him there, amid the rich collection of his masterpieces.

[Sidenote: The master's pupils]

As a sculptor, Thorvaldsen's name will always be linked with that of his
great rival and contemporary, Canova. Both sculptors are equally remarkable
for the way they returned to the classic traditions of Hellenic sculpture.
It can be said of them that they bridged the chasm of nearly two thousand
years that had elapsed between antiquity and modern times. It was reserved
to their successors to introduce a modern note in sculpture. Like Canova,
Thorvaldsen exerted great influence on almost all the sculptors who came to
Rome in his day. Thus Rauch declared himself indebted to him for the purity
of his style. From his school in turn issued Riechel of Dresden, Drake,
Wolff