Carl Johan Bonnesen (1868-1933)
Bronze. 50 x 52,5 x 26,3 cm.
Carl Johan Bonnesen specialised in depictions of animals and exotic, ''primitive'' subjects as seen in the first sculpture he ever exhibited "A
Victorious Group of Huns" from 1889. It was soon followed by "A Barbarian", 1891, "The Period of the Huns", 1893, "A Bedouin", 1897 and "A Mounted Chinese Warrior", 1900.
Bonnesen soon had many commissions. At the age of 22 in 1891 his first sculpture was acquired by the collector Heinrich Hirschsprung and cast in bronze (it is today exhibited in the garden by the Hirschsprung Collection, Copenhagen). His most important patron was the brewer Carl Jacobsen (Carlsberg), who among other pieces ordered "Thor Driving Across the Arch of the Sky" (in copper it stands on top of the brewery buildings at Carlsberg). Bonnesens last great patron was Harald Plum, who had the huge sculpture group "Thors Fighting the Giants" placed on his private island, Thorø (it now stands by the Haustrup Plast factory on the outskirts of Odense).

"Death and Cupid"
Bonnesen and Niels Hansen Jacobsen met one another in Paris during 1890''s. The latter lived there at Boulevard Arago 65 from 1892-1902. They arranged a great party for their colleagues - it was even mentioned in the Copenhagen newspapers! In Paris Bonnesen must have been confronted with symbolist works of art. He may already during the 1890''s have prepared studies for "Death and Cupid". The sculpture is based on the Danish author I. P. Jacobsens text "Doctor Faust" which is full of symbols. The study which belongs to the Vejen Art Museum presumably dates to about 1901. The following year the sculpture group was finished in large scale - only "Death" still exists. It is on show at the Tingbæk limestone quarry in Northern Jutland near Rebild.

Teresa Nielsen

Literature
Gudrun Mangors and Dorthe Falcon-Møller "Carl Johan Bonnesen",
Copenhagen 1996.
"Billedhuggeren Carl Johan Bonnesen, 1868-1933" Teresa Nielsen. Exhibition catalogue, Rudolph Tegners Museum and Vejen Art Museum, 1994-95.
A large collection of scrapbooks can be consulted at Nordjyllands Art
Museum, Ålborg. The "Billedsamlingen" at the Copenhagen Royal Academy inherited the sculptor''s vast collection of photographs.