Athena2.0220_Thorvaldsen

c Athena2.0220_Thorvaldsen

Athena2.0220_Thorvaldsen

Reid OGCMA, s.v. "Athena"
Thorvaldsensmuseum A143

Bertel Thorvaldsen (1770-1844), "Den Himmelske Visdom" ("Heavenly Wisdom") pendant sculpture on the funerary monument to Pope Pius VII, Rome, St Peter's, plaster model 1825 (marble final version erected 1831). The plaster original was created at Thorvaldsen's studio in Rome 1825 and is displayed now at the Thorvaldsensmuseum in Copenhagen.

Pius VII, born Gregorio Barnaba Chiaramonti, reigned as pope 1800-1823. Thorvaldsen's funerary monument in the south transept of St Peter's features the pairing of the Minerva and Omphale (HeraclesOmphale2.0100_Thorvaldsen), a unique juxtaposition reminiscent of other monuments nearby that pair Minerva with another allegorical feminine figure — Leo XI, Innocent XI, Alexander VII, and Gregory XIII.

OGCMA slides are designed by Roger T. Macfarlane for use in Classical Civilization 241 courses at Brigham Young University.
The present resource contains information assembled for The Oxford Guide to Classical Mythology in the Arts, 1300 - 1990's, edited by J. Davidson Reid (Oxford 1994), and it is used with express permission from Oxford University press.
Address concerns or inquiries to macfarlane@byu.edu.