Christian Charity

Bertel Thorvaldsen

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This work is a highly finished study for one of four marble reliefs originally conceived in 1807–8 for the baptismal font of the Church at Brahe-Trollenberg, but subsequently rejected by the church. Early accounts state that the marble was executed for the third Marquess of Lansdowne in 1810, and in 1822 in order to raise money for a destitute Norwegian officer. This relief appears to precede a plaster cast original model from 1810.

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The fifty thousand objects in the Museum's comprehensive and historically important collection of European sculpture and decorative arts reflect the development of a number of art forms in Western European countries from the early fifteenth through the early twentieth century. The holdings include sculpture in many sizes and media, woodwork and furniture, ceramics and glass, metalwork and jewelry, horological and mathematical instruments, and tapestries and textiles. Ceramics made in Asia for export to European markets and sculpture and decorative arts produced in Latin America during this period are also included among these works.

Metropolitan Museum of Art