Early life and education

Bonnesen was born on 26 May 1868 in Aalborg

Aalborg

-Transport:On the north side of the Limfjord is Nørresundby, which is connected to Aalborg by a road bridge Limfjordsbroen, an iron railway bridge Jernbanebroen over Limfjorden, as well as a motorway tunnel running under the Limfjord Limfjordstunnelen....

. He first trained to become a carpenter for two years before moving to Copenhagen

Copenhagen

Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...

 where he was admitted to the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in 1887. There he studied under Theobald Stein

Theobald Stein

Theobald Stein was a Danish sculptor. He was a professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and served as its director from 1883 to 1886....

 and Christian Carl Peters before graduating in 1889.

Extensive travels

After completing his education, Bonnesen travelled extensively through the 1890s. From 1894 to 1995 he stayed in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 where he was in contact with the circle around Stephan Sinding

Stephan Sinding

Stephan Abel Sinding was a Norwegian-Danish sculptor. He moved to Copenhagen in 1883 and had his breakthrough the same year. In 1890 he obtained Danish citizenship. In 1810 he settled in Paris where he lived and worked until his death in 1922...

 with whom he had more in common than he had with Stein and Peters, his former teachers. In 1898 he made a journey to Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

 and East Asia

East Asia

East Asia or Eastern Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms...

 and his travellings also brought him to America.

Legacy

Bonnesen had a large and diverse production of statues and statuettes. These include Adam and Eve at the body of Abel (1900) and Two Lions in the Danish National Gallery

Statens Museum for Kunst

Statens Museum for Kunst is the Danish national gallery located in Copenhagen....

 as well as several statuettes in The Hirschsprung Collection

The Hirschsprung Collection

The Hirschsprung Collection is an art museum in Copenhagen, Denmark. It is located in a parkland setting in Østre Anlæg, near the Danish National Gallery, and houses a large collection of Danish art from the 19th and early 20th century...

.

Many of Bonnesen's plaster casts have since 1969 been exhibited in Thingbæk Kalkminer near Rebild Bakker.

Public statues

• A Barbarian, Garden of the Hirschsprung Collection, Copenhagen (1891)
• Thor's battle against the Jötunns, roof of the Ny Carlsberg Brewhouse
  Ny Carlsberg Brewhouse
  The Ny Carlsberg Brewhouse is a historic, listed building in the Carlsberg district of Copenhagen, Denmark, on the border between Vesterbro and Valby.-History:...
  
  , Copenhagen (1901)
• Diana (equestrian statue), Trondhjems Plads, Copenhagen (1908)
• Christian IX (equestrian statue), Aarhus
  Aarhus
  Aarhus or Århus is the second-largest city in Denmark. The principal port of Denmark, Aarhus is on the east side of the peninsula of Jutland in the geographical center of Denmark...
  
  
• The Musician, Mozarts Plads, Copenhagen (1913)
• The Mother, Amorparken, Copenhagen (1932)