Quick Facts
Biography
Walter Magnus Runeberg (1838–1920) was a Finnish neo-classical sculptor.
Runeberg was born in Porvoo as the eldest son of Finnish national poet Johan Ludvig Runeberg. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts, Helsinki and with sculptor Carl Eneas Sjöstrand. From 1858 through 1869 he studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen under Herman Wilhelm Bissen, acquiring a clear influence from the neoclassical style of Bissen's master Bertel Thorvaldsen.
After periods living and working in Rome and Paris, Runeberg produced many of Helsinki's best-known examples of monumental public art. The largest is the Alexander II Monument in Senate Square, a commission awarded jointly to Runeberg and sculptor Johannes Takanen, then completed by Runeberg after Takanen's death in 1885. The pedestal features several allegorical figures. Notably, the figure representing Law is a version of the Suomi-neito, the Finnish maiden, here cloaked in bearskin.
He is buried in the Hietaniemi Cemetery in Helsinki.
Work
Runeberg's work includes:
- the classical frieze of Kleobis and Biton on the facade of the Old Student House, Helsinki, 1878
- statue of his father Johan Ludvig Runeberg, in the Esplanadi of Helsinki, 1885
- Per Brahe Statue, Turku, Finland, 1888
- Henrik Borgström monument, Taka-Töölö district of Helsinki, 1888
- two bronze Danaids in the Meilahti neighborhood of Helsinki, 1893
- Alexander II Monument in Senate Square, Helsinki, with fellow sculptor Johannes Takanen, 1894
- allegorical figures on the exterior of the rotunda, National Library of Finland, with fellow sculptor Karl Magnus Mellgren, 1905
- memorial bust of Julius af Lindfors, Taka-Töölö district of Helsinki, 1909