Antonio Canova (copia da), Bust of Venus Italica

Black patinated bronze; 23x11.5x11.5 cm, without base 15 x 10.5 x 7.5 cm This bust is based on the "Venus Italica" by the sculptor Antonio Canova. The original work is a full-body version and is kept in the Palatine Gallery of Palazzo Pitti in Florence. The story of the original is curious: it was commissioned from the great sculptor to replace the Medici Venus, an archaeological work transferred to the Louvre from Florence during the Napoleonic plundering. The initial commission called for a slavish copy, while Canova managed to get the idea of a reinvention of the subject across. This sculpture was placed in the Uffizi on a new rotating pedestal and from there transferred to the Palatine Gallery only when Canova himself, commissioned by the Papal State after the fall of Napoleon, managed to have the Medici Venus returned to Florence. Our bust is a delightful copy of the torso of the Venus Italica and can be placed in the first half of the 19th century given the typically neoclassical quality of the bronze, especially in the rendering of the hair and the elegance of the face.