Bronze sculpture of Odin - Depicted as a Greek God
ODIN (1828)
by Herman Ernst Freund
Housed at the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen, Denmark.
BIOGRAPHY
Born in the city of Bremen, Hermann Freund, emigrated to Copenhagen in 1804, at eighteen, to escape conscription in Napoleon's army, and went to work in his uncle's workshop in that city, learning how to make locks. He soon left the smithy to work in the mint as an engraver, which left him more time to practice drawing and modeling in the Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen. Besides studying mechanics, anatomy and perspective, he loved to study history, mythology, languages and literature. When Copenhagen was bombarded in 1807 by the English, Freund took part in its defense. In 1811, he acquired Danish citizenship. A man of few means, Freund found nobody in Copenhagen to teach and guide him in his art. After graduating from the Art Academy, Freund spent ten years in Rome, where he became sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen's closest assistant, before returning to Copenhagen.
For several years Freund could not make up his mind whether to choose engraving or sculpture for his profession. In a letter from October 1820, Jonas Collin, the powerful secretary of the Fonden ad usus publicos, "Fund for Public Uses" (1803-1832), who knew Freund from his work at the mint and remained a faithful friend, suggested Freund attempt to treat subjects from Norse mythology. Collin joined forces with some famous artists in Denmark, who, as the Scandinavian Literary Society, offered prizes for artistic representations of Nordic mythology in Copenhagen in 1821. Collin personally sent his friend Freund an invitation to this competition along with a copy of Finn Magnusen's Poetic Edda (1821) and Adam Oehlenschläger's, new at the time, Nordens Guder (Nordic Gods, 1819). Freund took great interest and immersed himself in the books, which soon caught his imagination. During the winter of 1821-22, he modeled sketches for a series of 12 figurines from Norse mythology including Odin, Freya, Thor, Balder, Bragi and Idun. Some of the sketches are now known only through the copper engraving by S. H. Petersen. Freund won the competition for sculpture with sketches for statues of the Norse gods, of which only Odin was realizedin bronze on a small scale.
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