Matthew O. Richardson
The Christus Legacy
The Creation of the Christus The inspiration for Thorvaldsen's work is unknown and could have come from his study of classical Greek sculptures, especially the work of Raphael. There are other potential inspirations, but because Thorvaldsen rarely kept drawings or models, we shall probably never know the precise evolution of the statue. However, there are five known sketches/models of the Christus: three plaster models and two pencil drawings.
All five models are in Thorvaldsen's Museum in Copenhagen, Denmark. Perhaps the most frequently retold tales center on Thorvaldsen's frustration in creating the proper position for Christ's arms. Thorvaldsen's early sketches and models show Christ's arms raised above his head in the blessing position.
Apparently, Thorvaldsen was not satisfied with this arrangement and spent considerable time fussing with it. According to J.M. Thiele, Thorvaldsen's biographer, Herman Ernst Freund listened to Thorvaldsen's complaints with his arms crossed upon his chest and questioned what Thorvaldsen wanted to communicate with the position of Christ's arms. As Thorvaldsen contemplated an answer, he suddenly exclaimed, "I have it now! It shall be so!" Thus, according to Thiele, the conception of the Christus was nothing short of divine inspiration.
Theodor Opperman, a former director of Thorvaldsen's Museum, has a more practical variation on this story. While Freund, standing with arms folded across his chest, was listening sympathetically to the discouraged Thorvaldsen, he tried to cheer him up, unfolded his arms, and half-opened them, dropping them slightly downward, palms upward. Thorvaldsen saw his friend pose the posture he desired for his statue of Christ and quickly sketched the idea in his notes.
One last version of how the arms of Christ came to be positioned deals with one of Thorvaldsen's early clay models. In this version, the raised arms slumped during the night from the blessing position to the waist. Thorvaldsen, upon seeing this new pose, quickly made it permanent.
This tale, a favorite among many, allows the listener to interpret that the Christus was conceived either by luck, divine intervention, artistic process, or mere gravity. None of these versions can be either confirmed or ruled out. Some believe the Christus to be the pragmatic result of artistic trial and error, while others see in it divine guidance, even though Thorvaldsen was not considered a devout Christian by many of his contemporaries. This should not, however, rule out divine inspiration impacting Thorvaldsen's Christus.
The original casting of the statue was plaster, and debuted in the Church of Our Lady in 1829. Another plaster casting went to Carrara, Italy, to transfer the figure into a marble statue, which was finally mounted in the cathedral in 1839.
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