Antonio Canova, the greatest exponent sculptor of Neoclassicism, was born on 1 November 1757 in Possagno (Treviso) and died on 13 October 1822. Canova is also considered the last great artist of Italian sculpture. We remember him, as well as for Cupid and Psyche, also for another sculptural work of great fame: The Three Graces . The Three Graces
The Three Graces is composed of two sculptures depicting the three famous goddesses of Greek mythology made by Canova between 1812 and 1817. There are two versions: the first is kept in the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, while one of his later replica and exhibited at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. The two works differ only in some small, irrelevant details.
The inspiration for Canova was of mythological origin: the sculptor in fact was inspired by the Graces, daughters of Zeus, Aglaia, Eufrosine, and Talia, the three beneficial deities who spread splendor, joy and prosperity in the human and natural world. It was therefore a subject that was well suited to Canova’s desire to reproduce in sculpture the ideal of a female serenating beauty, taking up the example of classical statuary, in perfect line with the neoclassical theories promoted by Johann Joachim Winckelmann. The sense of union
The three Graces are depicted in their most canonical position, i.e. the one in which they are shown standing upright and entwined in an intimate embrace: none of the three figures completely turns away from the viewer, differently from what happened in a painting by Raffaello Sanzio probably known by Canova. Their faces, in fact, are all in profile: in the canonical point of vision (orthogonal, or “in front” of the sculpture), the Grace in the center and seen from the front, the one on the right and almost from behind and the one on the left, finally, turns his side to the viewer. The sense of union dictated by the embrace of the central figure and strengthened by a soft veil which, following the right arm of Grace, surrounds the three girls, partially concealing their nakedness.
In addition to the almost tactile consistency of the marble veil, Canova’s virtuosity is also manifested in the flowing hair of the three Graces, which all have an elaborate hairstyle gathered in knots on the nape and in minutely curled locks, and in the application of a patina for imitate the rosy warmth of the complexion. Finally, the only environmental ornament present in the sculpture is a Doric column on the left, a useful support base for the three girls. The myth
The classical tradition relating to the Graces (Cariti in Greek) is very varied, with different versions that can present very profound differences between them, but which maintain a strong aesthetic characterization as a common trait. They become the bearers of qualities such as beauty and harmony; in general they represent the beautiful and good cosmic order, with naturalistic (prosperity) and ethical (gratitude) reflections. A characterization in this sense seems to be able to be attributed to them from the beginning, as the name itself would testify: “Carite” probably derives from “Charis” (χάρις: grace, kindness, sweetness), and this already traces a precise direction in the field semantic. In support of this reading and the transposition into Latin with “Gratia”, that of “Charis” and literal translation.History of the opera
The three Graces was a work commissioned from Canova by Giuseppina di Beauharnais, the first wife of Napoleon Bonaparte. This is testified by a letter dated 1812 in which Giuseppe Bossi wrote to the sculptor that he “heard rumors that you must make a group of the three Graces for this Lady [the Beauharnais]”. Beauharnais never saw the group, as Canova, who already in 1813 regretted not being able to show her at least one drawing, the last of her the Three Graces in 1817, after her death (which took place in May 1814).
