BY PIETRO BARZANTI, FLORENCE, AFTER THE MODEL BY CANOVA, LATE 19TH CENTURY

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. At first reluctant to accept the commission, the challenge to surpass one of the masterpieces of Antique sculpture soon 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.