Antonio Canova (1 November 1757 – 13 Possagno October 1822) was an Italian sculptor and painter, considered the greatest exponent of neoclassicism and nicknamed "the new Phidias".
Bust of Antonio Canova, Antonio Canova copy prior to 1847
It was especially the Bard of ideal beauty, without affectations: suffice in this regard to recall the works inspired by the three Graces and Hebe, or some of his masterpieces like Venus emerging from the bathroom, the Venus italica and statue dedicated to Paolina Borghese. His art and his genius had a large and decisive influence in the sculpture of the time. He started very young apprenticeship and played exclusively in the city of Venice, about 80 km from his birthplace, Possagno. In the lagoon city began to carve his first works. He suffered, especially in the first period of artistic production, the influence and appeal of the seventeenth-century sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini, undisputed master of the Baroque style.
Twenty-two, he moved to Rome where he had the chance to meet and get to know the major players of the neoclassical art, inserting himself in that climate of cultural capital that was the city capital of the eighteenth century.
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