Description
ANTONIO CANOVA (1757-1822), WORKSHOP OF "Ideal head, Juliette Récamier as Beatrice Circa 1820 Bust in white marble H. 48 cm, and pedestal H. 9,8 cm Provenance: Private collection Related works : Bust with simple veil: -Antonio Canova, Portrait of Juliette Récamier, 1813, plaster, H. 47 cm, Possagno, Gypsotheca, inv. N. 234 ; -Antonio Canova, Bust of Beatrice, 1819-22, marble, H. 45.7 cm, Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, inv. 2002.318 ; -Probably Antonio Canova's workshop, Juliette Récamier, marble, H. 57, 5cm, Bournemouth, Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum, inv. S.C9 BORGM. Bust crowned with olive tree: -Antonio Canova and workshop, Ideal head, Juliette Récamier as Beatrice, 1819-22, marble, H. 60 cm, Lyon, Musée des Beaux-Arts, inv. A 2921. Related literature: -Gérard Hubert, La sculpture dans l'Italie Napoléonienne, Paris, Editions E. de Boccard, 1964, n°16, p. 474; -Giuseppe Pavanello, Mario Praz, L'opera complete del Canova, Milan, Rizzoli, 1976, pp. 122-123; -Franca Falletti, Silvestra Biotoletti, Annarita Caputo, Lorenzo Bartolini, scultore del bello naturale, Giunti, Firenze Musei, 2011, pp. 192-193 ; -Ss dir. Claire Barbillon, Catherine Chevillot, Sculptures du XVIIème ou XXème siècle : Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, Paris, Somogy, 2017, pp. 146-148. History: In 1813, Juliette Récamier visited Antonio Canova in his Roman studio. The sculptor was touched by the beauty of the young woman and decided to paint her portrait. Taking advantage of the absence of Juliette who, fleeing the Roman heat, settled in Naples for three months, the sculptor models in terracotta in the greatest secrecy and from memory the image of his new muse. It was on her return to the Eternal City that the "Belle des Belles" discovered her effigy, disconcerted, she found it difficult to conceal her disappointment. Canova then transformed this portrait into a bust of Beatrice, the muse of the poet Dante Aligheri in the Divine Comedy, thus making this work part of the series of Ideal Heads that occupied him during the first third of the 19th century. There is a plaster print of Beatrice dating from 1813 kept at the Gypsotheca of Possagno (inv. N234). From this model, Canova made two versions in marble: one between 1817 and 1818, with the head covered by a simple veil, which he offered to his biographer Leopoldo Cicognara (1767-1834), and another sculpted in 1822 in response to a commission from the collector Alexander Baring (1774-1848), with the head crowned with an olive branch. As with most of the Ideal Heads, the literature on the artist is not exhaustive as to the number of copies made by Canova himself or by his workshop. We can cite the versions in the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Lyon (inv. 1292-1), in the Boston Museum (inv. 2002.318), a version offered in 1819 to the Viennese Stephan Szechej, and the beautiful copy by Lorenzo Bartolini (1777-1850), kept in a private collection in Florence.
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ANTONIO CANOVA (1757-1822), WORKSHOP OF "Ideal head, Juliette Récamier as Beatrice Circa 1820 Bust in white marble H. 48 cm, and pedestal H. 9,8 cm Provenance: Private collection Related works : Bust with simple veil: -Antonio Canova, Portrait of Juliette Récamier, 1813, plaster, H. 47 cm, Possagno, Gypsotheca, inv. N. 234 ; -Antonio Canova, Bust of Beatrice, 1819-22, marble, H. 45.7 cm, Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, inv. 2002.318 ; -Probably Antonio Canova's workshop, Juliette Récamier, marble, H. 57, 5cm, Bournemouth, Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum, inv. S.C9 BORGM. Bust crowned with olive tree: -Antonio Canova and workshop, Ideal head, Juliette Récamier as Beatrice, 1819-22, marble, H. 60 cm, Lyon, Musée des Beaux-Arts, inv. A 2921. Related literature: -Gérard Hubert, La sculpture dans l'Italie Napoléonienne, Paris, Editions E. de Boccard, 1964, n°16, p. 474; -Giuseppe Pavanello, Mario Praz, L'opera complete del Canova, Milan, Rizzoli, 1976, pp. 122-123; -Franca Falletti, Silvestra Biotoletti, Annarita Caputo, Lorenzo Bartolini, scultore del bello naturale, Giunti, Firenze Musei, 2011, pp. 192-193 ; -Ss dir. Claire Barbillon, Catherine Chevillot, Sculptures du XVIIème ou XXème siècle : Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, Paris, Somogy, 2017, pp. 146-148. History: In 1813, Juliette Récamier visited Antonio Canova in his Roman studio. The sculptor was touched by the beauty of the young woman and decided to paint her portrait. Taking advantage of the absence of Juliette who, fleeing the Roman heat, settled in Naples for three months, the sculptor models in terracotta in the greatest secrecy and from memory the image of his new muse. It was on her return to the Eternal City that the "Belle des Belles" discovered her effigy, disconcerted, she found it difficult to conceal her disappointment. Canova then transformed this portrait into a bust of Beatrice, the muse of the poet Dante Aligheri in the Divine Comedy, thus making this work part of the series of Ideal Heads that occupied him during the first third of the 19th century. There is a plaster print of Beatrice dating from 1813 kept at the Gypsotheca of Possagno (inv. N234). From this model, Canova made two versions in marble: one between 1817 and 1818, with the head covered by a simple veil, which he offered to his biographer Leopoldo Cicognara (1767-1834), and another sculpted in 1822 in response to a commission from the collector Alexander Baring (1774-1848), with the head crowned with an olive branch. As with most of the Ideal Heads, the literature on the artist is not exhaustive as to the number of copies made by Canova himself or by his workshop. We can cite the versions in the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Lyon (inv. 1292-1), in the Boston Museum (inv. 2002.318), a version offered in 1819 to the Viennese Stephan Szechej, and the beautiful copy by Lorenzo Bartolini (1777-1850), kept in a private collection in Florence.
