Thorvaldsen

St. Paul

Jesus

Quite well pleased with our visit we next proceeded to the Church of Notre Dame, famous from being enriched by the thirteen statues of Thorvaldsen (the Danish sculptor).  The figures are those of Christ and the twelve.  The casts of most of them I had already seen at his studio at Rome, but the marble of course is far superior to mere plaster.  Those of Christ & John are truly admirable, particularly the latter.  They are all so arranged that the whole of the figures [2] are seen at one and the same time, and are placed not as usually in niches, but according to the wishes of the Sculptor himself, some two feet from the wall. The church is very [chaste & neat?] but not as yet finished entirely.  The statue of John has the most heavenly look of any that I have ever seen.  We next drove to his studio in order to see perhaps the greatest sculptor of his age but coud not have the pleasure, from his being engaged on a piece of work in which he did not wish to be interrupted.  He has become now quite an old man, yet still intends in the course of a few weeks, returning to Rome where he raised himself to his present rank as the first sculptor of his day.