Three Graces. Antonio Canova’s statue The Three Graces is a Neoclassical sculpture, in marble, of the mythological three charites, daughters of Zeus, identified on some engravings of the statue as, from left to right, Euphrosyne, Aglaea and Thalia, who were said to represent youth/beauty, mirth, and elegance.
The Graces presided over banquets and gatherings, to delight the guests of the gods. As such they have served as subjects for historical artists including Sandro Botticelli and Bertel Thorvaldsen.
A version of the sculpture is in the Hermitage Museum, another is owned jointly and exhibited in turn by the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Scottish National Gallery. John Russell, the 6th Duke of Bedford, commissioned a version of the now famous work.
He had visited Canova's studio in Rome in 1814 and had been immensely impressed by a carving of the Graces which Canova produced for the Empress Josephine. When the Empress died in May of the same year he offered to purchase the completed piece, but was unsuccessful as Josephine's son Eugène claimed it. Undeterred, the Duke commissioned another version for himself.
The sculpting process began in 1814 and was completed in 1817. In 1819 it was installed at the Duke's residence in Woburn Abbey. Canova traveled to England to supervise its installation, choosing to display it on a pedestal adapted from a marble plinth with a rotating top. This it
The Graces presided over banquets and gatherings, to delight the guests of the gods. As such they have served as subjects for historical artists including Sandro Botticelli and Bertel Thorvaldsen.
A version of the sculpture is in the Hermitage Museum, another is owned jointly and exhibited in turn by the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Scottish National Gallery. John Russell, the 6th Duke of Bedford, commissioned a version of the now famous work.
He had visited Canova's studio in Rome in 1814 and had been immensely impressed by a carving of the Graces which Canova produced for the Empress Josephine. When the Empress died in May of the same year he offered to purchase the completed piece, but was unsuccessful as Josephine's son Eugène claimed it. Undeterred, the Duke commissioned another version for himself.
The sculpting process began in 1814 and was completed in 1817. In 1819 it was installed at the Duke's residence in Woburn Abbey. Canova traveled to England to supervise its installation, choosing to display it on a pedestal adapted from a marble plinth with a rotating top. This it
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