VENUS ITALICA

Details

AFTER ANTONIO CANOVA (1757-1821), ITALY, CIRCA 1810-1820
VENUS ITALICA
Life-size marble figure
67 ¼ in. (171 cm.) high

Provenance

Private collection, Argentina.
Private collection, Belgium, acquired in the 1970s.
Christie's, Paris, 16 June 2015, lot 137.

Literature

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
M. Praz, L'opera completa del Canova, Milan, 1976, no. 168, pl. 38-39.

Special notice

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Brought to you by

Donald Johnston

djohnston@christies.com +44 (0)20 7389 2331

Lot Essay

Canova was commissioned to execute the original version of the Venus Italica at the suggestion of Ludovico I, King of Etruria, as a replacement for the Antique statue of the Medici Venus, which had been plundered by the French in 1802. The challenge to surpass one of the masterpieces of Antique sculpture took hold of Canova. Completed in 1812, the sculpture was placed in the Palazzo Pitti, Florence. Popular from the moment it was unveiled, the Venus was subsequently replicated by Canova and purchased by among others, the Marquess of Lansdowne, Lucien, Prince of Canino and brother of Napoleon, and the Marquess of Londonderry.

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