Antonio Canova was the greatest sculptor of the Neo-Classical era. He could almost breathe life into stone. His art was adored across Europe and his life was just as compelling.
Canova was full of contradictions. Born into humble beginnings in the Venetian countryside, he rose to become Europe’s most sought after sculptor and a marquess.
He was shy, yet socialized with popes, kings, and intellectual women. He sculpted marble to near perfection. But also left behind raw, expressive sketches.
A master of classical form, he’s often called the first modern sculptor. Though I personally think of him as pre-Modern.
I’m usually more of a Renaissance girl, than a lover of Neo-Classical art. But some of Canova’s sculptures are just so, so beautiful.
They somehow reconcile the theatricality of the Baroque with the calm precision of Neo-Classical art. Still, I wouldn’t say he was the equal of Michelangelo exactly …
Who Was Antonio Canova?
Antonio Canova was born in 1757 in Possagno Italy, into a family of stonecutters and sculptors.
His parents died when he was 4 and 5 and was raised by his stone-cutting grandfather. Canova grew up in his workshop. He was a prodigy and success came early.
By age 11, he was apprenticed to a Venetian sculptor. And by 17, he was studying at Venice’s Academy of Fine Art. At 22, he opened his own studio in Venice.
He was known to be deeply devoted to his work, and by most accounts, he led a rather ascetic and solitary personal life. He once said, “I have no time for marriage; sculpture is my wife, and my works are my children.”
He went to Rome in 1780. Before that, he was already shaping clay with instinctive ease, what he called “inventing.” Clay was his playground and proving ground.
Every polished marble masterpiece began as a small, bold model, sculpted in the round with striking expression. While he sketched too, clay was where Canova’s imagination came alive.
In his lifetime, Canova was a sensation, and commissions came pouring in. He inspired a near cult following and was the most famous sculptor in Europe.
His patrons? A who’s who of power: Pope Pius VII, Emperor Francis II, King George IV, and even Napoleon. Canova did not disappoint, working feverishly to satisfy the demand.
Amid all the flattery and commissions, he maintained his independence, which only enhanced his mystique. Canova wasn’t afraid to stand up to Napoleon.
During an era rocked by war and revolution, Canova created sculptures of ethereal beauty with a provocative edge. His fig leaves cling rather than conceal. His drapery seduces, sculpted to reveal more than it hides.
Though he came to classical learning late, Canova wielded Greek mythology with precision and sometimes with bite. He never forgot how Napoleon had reduced his native Venice to a puppet state.
In 1815, he was appointed minister of the pope. Representing Italy, his main responsibility was to go to Paris and recover the works of art that Napoleon had pillaged and absconded with.
The pope naturally wanted his art back. It wasn’t so easy though. The head of the Louvre put up some intense resistance.
But then the Duke of Wellington provided him with armed troops to take back the art. Quite the dramatic story!
In 1815, Canova recommended that the British buy the Elgin Marbles. Following his visit, in 1816, the British government officially purchased the Elgin Marbles and placed them in the British Museum, where they remain today.
In 1820, that state of North Carolina commissioned him to sculpt George Washington. And he depicted the American as a Roman general, a bit weird to be sure.
At age 64, Canova passed away. He was buried in his home town, but his heart was put in a tomb he designed in the Frari Church in Venice.
Canova’s Major Works
What are his best works? Here’s my quick rundown of his top 10.
1. Psyche Revived by Cupid’s Kiss
📍Location: Louvre Museum, Paris
This is Canova’s most romantic and famous sculpture, full of tenderness and sensual movement.
The sculpture captures the moment from Greek mythology when Cupid awakens Psyche with a kiss.
Her arms reach up to him and his body curves down to her. It’s a perfect spiral of motion, rendered so beautifully.
It’s an astonishing example lightness and delicacy in marble. Cupid’s wings seem almost translucent.
Fluid drapery covers Psyche. The fingertips barely touch.
The sculpture has become a symbol of idealized love, beauty, and emotional wakening. It’s inspired countless copies, Romantic poets, and even fashion campaigns.
2. The Three Graces
📍Location: Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg and Victoria and Albert Museum, London
This group sculpture is iconic depiction of classical beauty and harmony, often considered the epitome of Neo-Classical sculpture.
There are two versions. The most famous one is in the Hermitage. It’s more sensual and dramatic than the one at the V&A, though that one was influential as well.
The Three Graces are a popular artistic theme. They are the daughters of Zeus. Three young and beautiful women, who embody joy and grace in its purest forms.
Canova draws on this classical tradition, but gives it a dollop of Neo-Classical elegance. They look radiant, polished, and timeless.
3. Napoleon as Mars the Peacemaker
📍Location: Apsley House, London (original)
One of Canova’s boldest moves? Portraying Napoleon as Mars the Peacemaker, heroically nude. The muscular god of war held a gilded orb with a dainty winged Peace atop it.
It was commissioned by Napoleon himself. The 11 foot tall statue was a bit of imperial propaganda, elevating Napoleon’s image to that of a mythic ruler rather than ordinary man.
Napoleon is depicted as muscular and idealized. Think a very ripped Julius Caesar. It was essentially political theater in stone.
The contrast between Canova’s chiseled figure and the real Napoleon’s pudgy frame wasn’t lost on anyone. The disconnect kind of backfired.
It was even too controversial for Napoleon, who thought it a caricature. After Napoleon’s fall, it was sized by the British and given to the Duke of Wellington, whose heirs still to this day live at Apsley House.
It’s a bit funny and ironic really. Napoleon stands in the house of the man who defeated him in battle.
4. Pauline Bonaparte as Venus Victrix
📍Location: Galleria Borghese, Rome
Commissioned by Camillo Borghese, Venus Victorious is Canova’s dazzling marble of a semi-nude, reclining Pauline Bonaparte. She was Napoleon’s scandalously flirtatious younger sister.
She holds a golden apple, marking her as Venus, though Canova had originally planned to portray her as the chaste Diana. The Borghese family insisted on Venus, claiming divine descent from Aeneas, son of the goddess.
The statue shocked society. Nude aristocrats were not the norm, and viewings were by candlelight only. When asked how she managed to pose like that, Pauline famously shrugged, “The room wasn’t cold.”
Restored to its glowing finish, the sculpture evokes her rumored milk baths. Every crease in the sheet and pillow feels luxuriously real. It’s Canova at his most seductive and precise.
5. Tomb of Pope Clement XIV
📍Location: Church of Santi Apostoli, Rome
One of Canova’s earliest papal commissions, showing his dramatic flair and mastery of funerary monuments.
The tomb is composed of three elements: the central figure of the pope and two allegorical female figures (Temperance and Clemency) seated below him.
This sculpture was Canova’s breakthrough moment in Rome. Before that, he was mainly known in Venice.
With this artwork, he also effectively reinvented the papal tomb. Pervious works were theatrical and dramatic with swirling and flying angels and drapery.
This tomb was calm and orderly, emphasizing the pope’s rationality and virtue. It was revolutionary restraint at the time.
I must say, it’s not my personal favorite work of Canova. The pope seems passive and cold. To me, it’s not a visually gripping ensemble.
6. Tomb of Pope Clement XIII
📍Location: St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City
This tomb preceded the Tomb of Clement XIV, but I prefer it. It’s a grand ensemble of allegorical figures and a kneeling pope. Perhaps the Bernini influence?
It was commissioned by the Rezzonicco family in honor of the pope. And it’s quite dramatic.
The pope kneels in prayer above the sarcophagus, absorbed in devotion. Flanking the base are a noble angel and sleeping lion. The composition is pyramidal and full of movement and energy.
The lion is especially famous. It’s often cited as the greatest animal sculpture in marble.
7. Perseus with the Head of Medusa
📍Location: Vatican Museums, Vatican City; replica by Canova in Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
This sculpture is a signature example of Canova’s Neo-Classical style. Think idealized anatomy, serene facial expression, and a heroic pose rooted in classical antiquity.
It was directly inspired by the Apollo Belvedere, a famous Roman sculpture in the Vatican Museums that Canova greatly admired. And it shows how he reinterpreted ancient art for his time.
It was also inspired by Cellini’s prior take in the Loggia dei Lanza in Florence’s Piazza della Signoria. But Canova flipped the switch.
Whereas Cellini’s theatrical and a bit grotesque, Canova’s is calm, idealized, and composed. He turns it into a celebration of calm triumph rather than horror and gore.
8. Hebe
📍Location: Hermitage Museum (St. Petersburg), Alte Nationalgalerie (Berlin), Brera Gallery (Milan)
This graceful statue depicts the graceful figure of Hebe, the goddess of youth and cupbearer of the gods. You can see her holding a jug of ambrosia.
Hebe symbolizes eternal beautify, renewal, and grace. It’s Neo-Classical grace at its finest.
She seems to float in an airy pose that defies marble’s weight. The drapery spirals around her legs, emphasizing movement while keeping the classical restraint. It’s poetry in motion.
I’ve only seen the one at the Brera Museum in Milan. But it’s absolutely ethereal.
9. Theseus and the Minotaur
📍Location: Victoria and Albert Museum, London
This sculpture was a pivotal early Canova work. Canova deliberately rejected Baroque excess and theatricality in favor of rational calm and moral clarity.
Theseus isn’t shown in action. He’s resting after slaying the beast, a quiet, moralized take on heroism. The focus is on mental triumph, not physical conquest.
To viewers used to Bernini’s dramatic compositions, it seems rather staid. But, it nonetheless helped catapult Canova to fame.
It’s wouldn’t say it’s a masterpiece per se. Compared to his later sculptures, it’s a bit clunky.
The composition is awkward too, with the Minotaur slumped and barely visible. The anatomical stiffness you see would soon enough be replaced with fluidity. But it’s a key developmental piece.
10. George Washington (marble version destroyed)
📍Location: North Carolina Museum of History, Raleigh
This beautiful sculpture was Canova’s only commission from America. And it came at Thomas Jefferson’s request, who was a committed Classicist and thought Canova was the greatest living sculptor.
Canova depicted Washington in a Roman military garb. He’s in a traditional Neo-Classical pose: calm, noble, virtuous, heroic. The Roman attire wasn’t uniformly well-received, seeming strange in America.
The statue was placed in the North Carolina State House. But it was destroyed when the roof collapsed and caved in.
But Canova also made a full sized plaster model know as a modello. It was lost for almost two centuries. But, happily, it was rediscovered in 2005 in the Gypsotheca Canova Museum in Possagno.
11. Canova Tomb In Frari Church
📍Location: Frari Church, Venice
This monumental tomb in the Frari Church in Venice is one of the most striking Neo-Classical funerary memorials in Italy.
Though Canova died in 1822, the tomb was completed by his students in 1827. They followed a design Canova had originally created for the painter Titian. But it became Canova’s own tomb.
Canova was a devoted Freemason, and the tomb reflects Masonic symbolism throughout. The massive white marble pyramid was chosen deliberately. In Masonic tradition, the pyramid represents the “Great Architect of the Universe,” a metaphor for a divine creative force.
Its stark, geometric purity aligns with Canova’s neoclassical ideals and spiritual beliefs.
On the left, a winged angel watches over the soul’s ascent, while below, a sleeping lion rests on a closed book, symbols of wisdom and Venice. At the tomb’s base, a cloaked figure represents death, followed by a youth with a lit torch, symbolizing immortality.
Hope and Charity trail behind, softening the procession and reflecting Canova’s faith in virtue and the enduring spirit.
I hope you’ve enjoyed my guide to the most famous works of Canova You may find these other Italian art guides useful:
- Italy art bucket list
- Most famous Italian artists
- Best museums in Italy
- Masterpieces in Venice
- Masterpieces in Florence
- Caravaggio trail in Rome
- Bernini trail in Rome
- Michelangelo trail in Florence
- Raphael masterpieces
- Leonardo da Vinci masterpieces
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