JasonGoldenFleece1.0041

Bertel Thorvaldsen, 1770-1844, "Jason (with the Golden Fleece)", sculpture in numerous versions, 1803, 1828, and 1846-62; Thorvaldsenmuseum, Copenhagen A22 (1803) is Thorvaldsen's own original plaster model created in Rome and later taken to Copenhagen; Thorvaldsen's marble copy A822 was commissioned by Thomas Hope and completed in 1830s; B.L. Bergslien and H.W. Bissen worked from the plaster original to create A51 (1846-1862), a sculpture that is not entirely faithful to Thorvaldsen's original. A22 is 245.5cm in height, colossal; A822 stands 242cm. The three versions side-by-side-byside.

Thorvaldsen's 1803 sculpture is seen by E.K. Sass not only as Thorvaldsen's first masterpiece but even "the statue [that] carried neoclassicism to its culmination as a European style." — "Thorvaldsen: an introduction to his work" (2003; p. 380)

Jason stands much as Apollo Belvedere, a classical male paragon of 18th-century critics, with the Golden Fleece draped over his left forearm.

Image at right derived from Google Arts & Culture and shows Thorvaldsen's A822 (1828).

For A52 (1803), Thorvaldsen's earliest original, click "Thorvaldsenmuseum" above.