Dancing Girl with Her Hands on Her Hips and Dancing Girl with Her Finger on Her Chin

Antonio Canova was born in Possagno, a small town in northern Italy, and rose from humble origins to become the most famous artist in Europe by the dawn of the 19^th century. Immensely popular in his day, he is widely considered the greatest exponent of neo-classical sculpture who managed to imbue his works with a sense of restrained grace, inspired by (but not blindly copying) sculptures from Ancient Greece and Rome. He received commissions from some of the most famous personalities of his era, carving for European monarchs and becoming a favourite of Napoleon. Canova’s celebrity and influence was instrumental in maintaining Rome as a European centre for contemporary art into the 19^th century. As Lord Byron wrote in 1818: ‘Europe – the world – has but one Canova’.

Among the many themes that held Canova’s fascination throughout his career, dance was one to which he frequently returned. Taking inspiration from classical sources such as the frescoes at Pompeii and Herculaneum, Canova created his own compositions, each testaments to joy and movement expressed through marble. Between 1806 and 1812 he developed three compositions depicting female dancing figures known today after their individual gestures: Dancing Girl with Her Hands on Her Hips, Dancing Girl with Her Finger on Her Chin and Dancing Girl with Cymbals.

The first of these was devised for Josephine Bonaparte, second wife of Napoleon, to furnish her Château Malmaison. The commission was completed in 1812 and exhibited publicly. Writing to the artist in February the following year, the Empress, described how members of the public ‘flocked’ to see the work, stating that she felt Canova was ‘better than Pygmalion, [because] he animated his masterpiece for himself alone, and it is for us that you animate yours’ (‘Il me semble que vous faites mieux que Pygmalion, il n’animait son chef d’œuvre que pour lui seul, et c’est pour nous que vous animez les Votres’) (Guderzo, op. cit. p. 101). Following Josephine’s death, the Dancing Girl with Her Hands on Her Hips was bought by Tsar Alexander I and today is housed in the collection of the Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg. The model for the Dancing Girl with Her Finger on Her Chin was initially created in 1809 after which it soon impressed the Italian banker Domenico Manzoni di Forli who paid 4,400 scudi to have the model in marble. Following Forli’s death, the marble was sold for 5,000 scudi in 1823 to the Russian ambassador in Rome, Count Gurief . Today the work remains in the Eternal City, in the collection of the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica.

Canova’s glittering career and widespread appeal throughout Europe and North America fuelled a wealth of demand for copies after his compositions both in his lifetime and following his death in 1822. Typically produced in workshops in Italy, the continued creation of Canova compositions throughout the 19^th and at the dawn of the 20^th centuries is a testament to his enduring global influence which continues today.

The Hôtel Empain at 1 rue Zinner is one of a row of neoclassical mansions bordering the Parc de Bruxelles, Belgium. It was built in 1780 after designs by the French architect Barnabé Guimard and was initially owned by the Baron de Tiège but changed hands several times in subsequent decades becoming home to the Mercy d'Argenteau, Eggen, Van Volxem-Marischal and Croy families at various points throughout the 19^th century. In 1907 it was purchased by the industrialist Baron Louis François Empain (1862-1935) who, along with his brother Edouard, ran the Empain group which worked predominantly on railways, construction and mining. The lavish interior of the Hôtel Empain during the life of the resident after whom it is now named can be see in the 20^th century photograph documenting its furnishings and a portion of the Baron’s art collection, including the two Dancers offered here.