Tímarit Þjóðræknisfélags Íslendinga - 01.01.1963, Page 112

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TÍMARIT ÞJÓÐRÆKNISFÉLAGS ÍSLENDINGA
The Siatues (on one side in the Church of Our Lady, Copenhagen)
and said graciously: “Ah, indeed so,
Monsieur Thorvaldsen, w i 11 you
please step to the head of the class!”
And there Bertel remained during
his religious studies, and moreover
the Archdeacon continued to ad-
dress him as Monsieur.
Bertel was deeply touched by this
honor that had come to him totally
undeserved. He ran home to his
mother and exclaimed, “He called
me Monsieur!” And of all the honors
and titles that later came to Thor-
valdsen, which were numerous and
highly estimable, this homely little
tribute from the Archdeacon, seem-
ed to be the one most deeply en-
graved on his memory.
At this time Bertel was a tall
slender youth, with handsome chi-
selled features and a wealth of
wavy straw-blonde hair. His large
blue eyes looked wistfully out into
the world which he knew was some-
where out beyond his narrow
horizon. He had worked hard to
help his parents, who were really
poor. He carried home for firewood
chips and shavings that fell from
the carved figureheads as he and
his father worked on the ships on
the wharf. He made designs and
soon was inspiring Gottskálk to do
still better work. The trim skips
with their grand figureheads went
to sea, but Bertel was bound to the
shore. Finally it had been one of
the ship owners that persuaded
Gottskálk that Bertel should study
art, — but only half-days, as Gott-
skákl needed the boy’s labours to
support the household. One of the
professors later remembered Thor-
valdsen chiefly for his long yellow