Focus on this artwork and explain the History.
The statue was originally commissioned from Herman Wilhelm Bissen at the initiative of the art historian Niels Laurits Høyen. Bissen created a small statuette in 1835–36 and the original plaster model in 1836–37. The plan was to raise 6,000 Danish rigsdaler for a marble statue but Ørsted's strong political views resulted in dwindling popularity. Orla Lehmann wrote to Høyen that Ørsted wasn't a statesman but "the servant of a Fürst".
In 1842, Høyen made a new attempt to raise the money but Ørsted that same year went up against Peter Hiort Lorenzen who had spoken Danish at the stænderforsamling in Slesvig. This prompted Høyen to call off the fund-raising campaign. Bissen, who was known for his temper, was outraged. In about 1852, he was supposedly about the destroy the model but was stopped by force by a group of his students.Bissen died in 1868 and thus never got to see the statue completed. Vilhelm Bissen his son and student, continued his father's studio. He sold his father's Ørsted plaster model to Carl Jacobsen in 1882. In 1885, Jacobsen also commissioned a marble copy from him.
The outdoor monument was commissioned in connection with the 10th Nordic Jurist Meeting and financed through donations from Danish and Norwegian jurists. The bronze statue was based on Bissen Jr.'s 1885 marble copy and cast in Lauritz Rasmussen's Bronze Foundry. It was unveiled during the conference on 27 August 1902.
Niels Laurits Høyen Slesvig Vilhelm Bissen Peter Hiort Lorenzen Lauritz Rasmussen Herman Wilhelm Bissen Carl Jacobsen Bronze Lauritz Rasmussen's Bronze Foundry Orla Lehmann Danish rigsdaler