# Hermann Ernst Freund

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Danish sculptor (1786–1840)

Hermann Ernst Freund Portrait of Freund by Christian Albrecht Jensen (1818–20) Born (1786-10-15)15 October 1786 Uthlede, near Bremen, Holy Roman Empire Died 30 June 1840(1840-06-30) (aged 53) Copenhagen, Denmark Resting place Assistens Cemetery, Copenhagen Education Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts Known for Sculpture Movement Danish Golden Age, Neoclassicism

**Hermann Ernst Freund** (15 October 1786 – 30 June 1840) was a German-born Danish sculptor of the [Danish Golden Age](/source/Danish_Golden_Age). Trained at the [Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts](/source/Royal_Danish_Academy_of_Fine_Arts), he spent about a decade in Rome as one of [Bertel Thorvaldsen](/source/Bertel_Thorvaldsen)’s closest collaborators before becoming professor of sculpture in Copenhagen. Freund is particularly known for his sculptures inspired by [Nordic mythology](/source/Nordic_mythology), including a series of statuettes of Norse gods, the large *Ragnarok* frieze designed for [Christiansborg Palace](/source/Christiansborg_Palace) and a number of grave monuments and portrait busts in a refined classical style.[1][2]

## Biography

Hermann Ernst Freund portrayed by [Christian Albrecht Jensen](/source/Christian_Albrecht_Jensen), 1835, [Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek](/source/Ny_Carlsberg_Glyptotek)

Freund was born in Uthlede near [Bremen](/source/Bremen) in the [Holy Roman Empire](/source/Holy_Roman_Empire). Originally trained as a smith, he later turned to engraving and gem carving before entering the [Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts](/source/Royal_Danish_Academy_of_Fine_Arts) in Copenhagen in 1805.[3] He applied for and obtained Danish citizenship in 1811 and completed his studies with the Academy’s major travel scholarship, which enabled him to continue his training in Italy.[3]

### Roman period and Nordic themes

Freund arrived in Rome in 1818 and worked there for around ten years in [Bertel Thorvaldsen](/source/Bertel_Thorvaldsen)’s studio, where he assisted on large sculptural commissions destined for Christiansborg and the [Church of Our Lady](/source/Church_of_Our_Lady_(Copenhagen)) in Copenhagen.[3][2] Despite the close collaboration, his own work gradually took a different direction, combining classical form with subjects drawn from Nordic myth.

In Rome he modelled a series of works based on [Norse deities](/source/Norse_gods), including statuettes of [Loki](/source/Loki) (c. 1822), [Odin](/source/Odin) (model 1825–1827, cast in bronze 1827) and [Thor](/source/Thor) (Academy presentation piece, 1829).[2] In 1822 he won first prize in a Copenhagen competition for compositions on Nordic mythological themes with the relief *Mimir and Balder Consult the Norns*, later acquired by the [Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek](/source/Ny_Carlsberg_Glyptotek).[4] These works made Freund one of the earliest Danish sculptors to develop a systematic sculptural imagery based on Nordic mythology, which contemporary critics associated with emerging currents of romantic nationalism.[4]

### Return to Copenhagen and the *Ragnarok* frieze

Freund returned to Copenhagen in 1828. Among the commissions he pursued on his return was an extensive frieze with scenes from the [*Ragnarok*](/source/Ragnar%C3%B6k) myth cycle, designed for the interior of [Christiansborg Palace](/source/Christiansborg_Palace) and begun while he was still in Rome.[2] The ambitious project occupied him for many years but was not completed in his lifetime. A reduced version of the *Ragnarok* frieze was finally installed at Christiansborg in 1841, after Freund’s death, and completed by his pupils and colleagues [Herman Wilhelm Bissen](/source/Herman_Wilhelm_Bissen) and [Georg Christian Freund](/source/Georg_Christian_Freund). The work was destroyed in the fire that consumed Christiansborg in 1884, although parts of the composition could later be reconstructed on the basis of surviving casts and drawings.[2] A plaster cast of a section of the frieze is held by the [Statens Museum for Kunst](/source/Statens_Museum_for_Kunst).[5]

Freund also prepared models for figures of the twelve apostles for the [Church of Our Lady](/source/Church_of_Our_Lady_(Copenhagen)) in Copenhagen, although the final commission for the church’s sculptural decoration went to Thorvaldsen.[3]

### Professor and later work

In 1829 Freund was appointed professor of sculpture at the [Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts](/source/Royal_Danish_Academy_of_Fine_Arts), a position he held until his death in 1840.[2] His official residence, the historic property Materialgården in central Copenhagen, was converted by Freund into a kind of Gesamtkunstwerk: rooms, furniture and household objects were designed in a consistent [Pompeian style](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pompeian_styles&action=edit&redlink=1), inspired by excavations he had seen in [Herculaneum](/source/Herculaneum) and [Pompeii](/source/Pompeii). The decorative painting and much of the interior program were carried out in collaboration with younger artists such as [Georg Hilker](/source/Georg_Hilker), [Heinrich Eddelien](/source/Heinrich_Eddelien), [Constantin Hansen](/source/Constantin_Hansen) and [Christen Købke](/source/Christen_K%C3%B8bke).[2][3]

During the 1830s, when large state commissions were relatively few, Freund earned much of his living from decorative works and from gravestones and memorial monuments, several of them for churches and churchyards on the Danish island of Funen, including the baptismal font and a grave monument in [Faaborg Church](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Faaborg_Church&action=edit&redlink=1) and memorials in [Odense](/source/Odense).[3] His gravestones and grave reliefs are characterised in contemporary and later descriptions as technically precise works in a classical idiom, while his portrait busts were praised for their close characterisation of the sitter.[2]

Freund died in Copenhagen on 30 June 1840 and was buried at [Assistens Cemetery](/source/Assistens_Cemetery_(Copenhagen)).[6] The largest single collection of his sculptures, including many of his mythological works and portrait pieces, is held by the [Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek](/source/Ny_Carlsberg_Glyptotek) in Copenhagen.[2][5]

## Gallery

		- *Thor* (1829), marble statuette

		- Baptismal font in Faaborg Church

		- *Odin* (model c. 1825–1827, bronze 1827)

		- Memorial for Jens Pedersen at [Sæby Church](/source/S%C3%A6by_Church%2C_Lejre_Municipality), Hornsherred (1833)

*Skæbnens gudinde* (*Fate*), sculpture by Hermann Ernst Freund at the [Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek](/source/Ny_Carlsberg_Glyptotek)

## See also

- [Danish sculpture](/source/Danish_sculpture)

- [Mimir and Balder Consult the Norns](/source/Mimir_and_Balder_Consult_the_Norns)

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** ["Hermann Ernst Freund"](http://www.gravsted.dk/person.php?navn=hermannernstfreund), Gravsted.dk. (in Danish) Retrieved 29 November 2025.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-DSD_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-DSD_2-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-DSD_2-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-DSD_2-3) [***e***](#cite_ref-DSD_2-4) [***f***](#cite_ref-DSD_2-5) [***g***](#cite_ref-DSD_2-6) [***h***](#cite_ref-DSD_2-7) [***i***](#cite_ref-DSD_2-8) Munk, Jens Peter. ["Hermann Ernst Freund"](https://lex.dk/Hermann_Ernst_Freund). *Lex.dk* (in Danish). Den Store Danske. Retrieved 29 November 2025.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Odense_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Odense_3-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-Odense_3-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-Odense_3-3) [***e***](#cite_ref-Odense_3-4) [***f***](#cite_ref-Odense_3-5) Lund Larsen, Tove. ["Billedhuggeren H.E. Freunds arbejder på Fyn"](https://museumodense.dk/udgivelser/billedhuggeren-h-e-freunds-arbejder-paa-fyn/). *Museum Odense* (in Danish). Retrieved 29 November 2025.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Perspective_4-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Perspective_4-1) Langer, Johnni (January 2021). ["Unveiling the Destiny of a Nation: The representations of Norns in Danish Art (1780–1850)"](https://www.perspectivejournal.dk/en/unveiling-the-destiny-of-a-nation-the-representations-of-norns-in-danish-art-1780-1850/). *Perspective: Journal of the National Gallery of Denmark*. Retrieved 29 November 2025.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-kulturarv_5-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-kulturarv_5-1) Munk, Jens Peter. ["Hermann Ernst Freund"](https://web.archive.org/web/20180930081426/https://www.kulturarv.dk/kid/VisKunstner.do?kunstnerId=2240). *Kunstindeks Danmark & Weilbachs kunstnerleksikon* (in Danish). Slots- og Kulturstyrelsen. Archived from [the original](https://www.kulturarv.dk/kid/VisKunstner.do?kunstnerId=2240) on 30 September 2018. Retrieved 29 November 2025.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** ["Hermann Ernst Freund"](http://www.gravsted.dk/person.php?navn=hermannernstfreund), Gravsted.dk. (in Danish) Retrieved 29 November 2025.

## External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to [Hermann Ernst Freund](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Hermann_Ernst_Freund).

- [Images of the *Ragnarok* frieze](http://www.germanicmythology.com/works/FreundArt.html)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Hermann Ernst Freund](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_Ernst_Freund) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_Ernst_Freund?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.