Italian master; around 1820.

Italian master; circa 1820.
Carved marble.
Slight wear and tear.
Provenance: Important Spanish private collection.
Measurements: 67 x 33 x 24.
Bust made in marble showing a face, whose hair and neck are hidden under a detailed veil, from which we can appreciate the folds that form a great volume and give expressiveness to the piece. Aesthetically, the work is inspired by classical statuary, specifically Roman, although it is true that the symmetry and the way in which the whole of the work is configured are Greek, but both the hairstyle and the clothing refer to a greater extent to the precepts of Roman sculpture, which in turn was to some extent based on Greek sculpture despite other stylistic influences and its own idiosyncrasies. In this case it should be noted that the piece corresponds to a historical period, in which antiquity is used as an example of a virtuous society, rescuing and adapting the models established by the aforementioned cultures. As for the face, the aforementioned symmetry allows us to see a face perfectly framed by the veil, and structured through the parting of the hair that reveals almond-shaped eyes, a prominent nose and full, tight lips.
Given the delicacy and subtlety of the carving, it is likely that this work is related to the workshop or to Canova himself, the neoclassical painter and sculptor Antonio Canova (Possagno, 1757-Venice, 1822), who was a great admirer of classical sculpture, recovering in his artistic production the precepts developed in classical antiquity, such as the interest in the canon, proportion and symmetry. Always from a 19th-century point of view, in which, as in the 16th century, the different disciplines of classical antiquity had been reinterpreted, adapting them to the tastes and circumstances of each period. Canova had a distinctive and characteristic style in which he combined Greek and Roman artistic practices with the first movements of Romanticism to enter a new path of Neoclassicism.