ssor at the Royal
Academy; he said: "But the greatest of modern sculptors was our
illustrious countryman, John Flaxman, who not only had all the fine
feeling of the ancient Greeks (which Canova in a degree possessed), but
united to it a readiness of invention and a simplicity of design truly
astonishing. Though Canova was his superior in the manual part, high
finishing, yet in the higher qualities, poetical feeling and invention,
Flaxman was as superior to Canova as was Shakespeare to the dramatists
of his day."

But the perfection of the results of the study of Canova and others who
endeavored to raise sculpture to its ancient glory was seen in the Dane,
BERTEL THORWALDSEN (1770-1844), who was born in Copenhagen. The descent
of this artist has been traced to memorable sources in two quite
distinct ways. Those who claim that the Norsemen discovered America
relate that during their stay upon this coast a child was born, from
whom Thorwaldsen's descent can be distinctly followed. The learned
genealogists of Iceland say that his ancestors were descended from
Harald Hildetand, King of Denmark, who, in the eighth century, was
obliged to flee, first to Norway and then to Iceland, and that one of
his descendants, Oluf Paa, in the twelfth century, was a famous
wood-carver. But this much is certain: in the fourteenth century there
lived in Southern Iceland a wealthy man, whose family and descendants
were much honored. One of these, Thorvald Gottskalken, a pastor, had
two sons and but a small fortune; so he sent his sons to Copenhagen,
where one became a jeweller and died young; the other, who was a
wood-carver, was the father of the artist, whose mother was Karen
Groeulund, the daughter of a Jutland peasant.

The father was employed in a shipyard, and carved only the rude
ornaments of vessels and boats; but these served to lead the mind of the
little Bertel to the art he later followed. His father could not have
dreamed of such a future as came to his son, but he was wise enough to
know that the boy might do more and better than he had done, and he sent
him, when eleven years old, to the free school of the Royal Academy to
study drawing; and very soon the works of the father showed the gain
which the son had made, for his designs were those now used by the old
wood-carver.

Bertel was also sent to study his books at the school of Charlottenburg,
and here he was so far from clever that he was put in the lowest class.
When Ber