Plaster, c. 1913. Size 125 x 86 x 14 cm. Inv. no. 192. Donated to the museum by Niels Hansen Jacobsen.

An angel of sorrow

The relief depicts a little angel who has lowered the torch of life and mournfully holds his head in his hand. The angel is a motif frequently used on tombstones since it conveys God's message of grace to mankind. Niels Hansen Jacobsen's little angel does not, however, seem to be infused with joy over the glories of heaven. Instead, it represents the grief of those left behind.

The tombstone

The motif was first made in clay after a living model, then in plaster, and later carved as a motif for a tombstone. Niels Hansen Jacobsen made two tombstones with this motif. One stands at Vejen Cemetery on the grave of H. G. Hansen and his wife, Anna Margrete Hansen, and the other at Gørding Cemetery on the grave of Maria Lund. Niels Hansen Jacobsen also treated the motif in a much smaller ceramic relief, which is found at the museum.

Hansen Jacobsen's production of tombstones

Niels Hansen Jacobsen began to make tombstones after he had settled down in his home town, Vejen, at the beginning of the century. He took an equivocal view of this job in many ways. On the one hand, he loved working with stone and often produced highly personal pieces. On the other, it was not always that inspiring for him to carve commemorative words to order. The work was evidently necessary for him to make a living and supplement his income from selling his untraditional ceramics. Many of the stones were not signed. A list made in 1989 counts 174 known tombstones.

In a letter dated September 17, 1934, Niels Hansen Jacobsen wrote to his friend Axel Hou:

It has always been la misère to be a sculptor in Denmark and I know it will never be different if I think of all the thousands of characters I have designed for ordinary tombstones and carved many of them myself...