Thorvaldsen

It featured a large plaster neoclassical nude Venus, inspired by Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen’s 19th century “Venus with Apple,” picking through a mountain of rags.

Thorvaldsen, who eventually lived much of his life in Italy, was an international art star of his era.

Another, of Thorvaldsen, depicts him in profile with a “distant expression,” radiating a “sense of authority and respect.”

Thorvaldsen was still holding court in Rome at this time; he would return the following year to Denmark, where he was feted as a national hero.

Many Danish artists went to study in Rome, where the great neoclassical sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen held sway.