AFTER CANOVA, LATE 19TH CENTURY,

In 1804, Prince Camillo Borghese commissioned a marble portrait of his wife, Napoleon's sister Princess Paolina, from the virtuoso sculptor Antonio Canova. The artist's initial intention to represent Paolina as the virgin huntress Diana met with great opposition from his subject - the result of this conflict was her famous portrayal in the guise of Venus Triumphans housed in the Villa Borghese in Rome.