Vintage Muscle Men

Thursday, January 22, 2026

Jerry visits Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Part I - Non-Danish Sculptures

Carlsberg Brewery founder Carl Jacobsen spent a great deal of his fortune on art, primarily Classical sculpture. While in Copenhagen last September, my friend Steve and I visted the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, a museum housing his collection and some subsequent acquisitions purchased through the endowment he left along with the art. I'm posting two photos of this generous man, both in his later years. There are earlier photos, but he is one of those men who looked better as he got older. The most interesting part of the museum for me was the Danish sculptures which will take up parts two and three of this series. We begin with some of the items which are not Danish.

Perseus with the Head of Medusa

We start with what I think is a copy of Canova's 1801 marble of Perseus

holding the head of Medusa. That broken sword puzzles me.

Rodin I

If you think you've seen Adam, the Creation of Man by Rodin in other museums, you probably have.

It's one of several of Rodin's works that the artist created more than one copy of.

First Century Roman Hercules

This 1st C. Roman bronze of Hercules as a young man is one of the

more subdued versions of the hero. It was found near Tivoli.

Antinous as Dionysus

This is Roman Emperor Hadrian's lover Antinous shown as Dionysus.

It was found in the ruins of the Villa Casali in 1700, and the sculptor is unknown.

Rodin II

The rear view of Rodin's Saint John the Baptist Preaching

is better than anything I could get of the front.

Jerry visits Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Part II - Herman Wilhelm Bissen (and son)

Herman Wilhelm Bissen (1798-1868) was probably the best sculptor in the history of Denmark.

His son Vilhelm was also a sculptor, but he didn't reach the same level of fame of the father. As you

will see, he did put the finishing touches on some of his father's unfinished work. Herman Bissen

has his own well deserved room at the Glyptotek, and part two focuses on that group of work.

The portrait of Herman above is by Wilhelm Marstrand from 1867.

Philoctetes in Pain

Philoctetes was a Greek archer who possessed the bow and arrows of Heracles, aka Hercules. On the way to the Trojan War, he was bitten by a snake and left to die on the island of Lemnos because the rest of the Greeks couldn't stand the stench of his festering wound. So much for camaraderie. Anyway, the Greeks soon learned they couldn't win the war without the magic archery set, so they sent Odysseus to fetch it, whereupon he found Philoctetes still living and rescued him. He fully recovered, went to war, and later founded a Greek colony in Italy. Herman Bissen sculpted him over the winter of 1854-55. The title is sometimes given as The Wounded Philoctetes.