Christen Daae Magelssen

Christen Daae Magelssen was a Norwegian sculptor .

Magelssen was born on May 6, 1841 the son of parish priest in Åfjord, Hans Gynter Magelssen (d. 1886) and Drude Cathrine Haar Daae (1815–88), a sister of Ludvig Kristensen Daa . As a young man, he was first a sailor, before he started making figureheads in an English workshop. When he returned to Norway he decided to become a sculptor, and in 1866 went to Copenhagen with a state scholarship. He was taught by the Danish sculptor Herman Wilhelm Bissen for three years. In this period, he produced his first major work, "Sailor, who sweaters his Fatherland's Coast".

In the following years, Magelssen lived in Kristiania , before he went to Rome in 1871 . He lived in Rome for ten years, initially with a state grant, and became acquainted with other Norwegians who were in Italy at the same time: Ole Bull , Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson , Jonas Lie and Henrik Ibsen . During the Rome period, he made, among other things, the colossal statue "Meleager", which was exhibited at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1878 . In the 1880s he returned to Norway, and lived first in Bergen , then in Kristiania.

He was married to the Italian printer's daughter Adele Elvira Salandri (b. 1857).

Magelssen died on March 20, 1940.