Pair of marble sculptures; after Canova; 19th century

After ANTONIO CANOVA (Possagno, Italy, 1757-Venice, 1822), 19th century.
"Dancers with cymbals" .
Carrara marble on porphyry and marble base.
Provenance: Important stately home in Catalonia.
Measurements: 182 cm (sculpture height); 76 cm (pedestal height); 258 cm (total height).

The pair of sculptures, which follows the original model of Antonio Canova, today preserved in the "Staatliche Museen" of Berlin, has a size of more than one hundred and eighty centimeters, which, together with the unusual porphyry pedestals, makes them a set of a spectacular magnitude, as together, sculpture and pedestal, exceed two hundred centimeters in height.

Graceful and ethereal, the dancers rise on a single leg as they gently turn on their own axis, raising their arms with their cymbals in their hands. The light fabric of their dresses, classically inspired, subtly insinuates the harmonious lines of their figure. Their heads, with balanced features and meticulous hairstyles, tilt slightly to one side in a gesture of refined elegance. The support, conceived to allow the figure to rotate, offers the viewer the possibility of appreciating its beauty from all angles, revealing different shades of light on the marble surface.

Canova's piece was commissioned by the Russian ambassador in Vienna, Count Andrei Razumovsky.

At the end of the 18th century, Canova began his career in Venice, but achieved fame in Rome, becoming the greatest neoclassical sculptor of his time. He received invitations from numerous European monarchs and heads of state to work in their service, but remained faithful to Rome, where he found his greatest source of inspiration.