Reclining Naiad

Antonio Canova  (Italian, Possagno 1757–1822 Venice)

Date:
1819–24
Culture:
Italian (Rome)
Medium:
Marble
Dimensions:
Overall (wt confirmed): 35 x 75 x 32 1/2 in., 2558lb. (88.9 cm, 75 in., 82.6 cm, 1160.3012kg)
Classification:
Sculpture
Credit Line:
Purchase, Mrs. Joseph A. Neff Gift, In memory of Joseph A. Neff, 1970
Accession Number:
1970.1
  • Description

    This is a variant of the Reclining Venus with Cupid, now in Buckingham Palace, which was made for Lord Cawdor in 1814 and ceded by him to the Prince Regent. 1970.1, commissioned by the fourth earl of Darnley, was completed by Canova's assistents after his death and delivered to the earl at Cobham Hall in Kent in 1824.
    The original plaster model for the Naiad, completed in 1817, is in the Gipsoteca di Possagno. Compositional prototypes include Canova's Pauline Borghese as Venus Victrix and an ancient Hermaphrodite, both in the Borghese Gallery, Rome.
    Numerous slight indentations throughout the marble may be visible remains of the pointing system.

  • Provenance

    Cobham Hall, Kent, EnglandEarls of Darnley (until 1957; sale, Sotheby's, London, July 23, 1957, no. 409; to Appleby); Appleby (from 1957) ; [ Wildenstein and Co., Inc. , New York (until 1970; sold to MMA) ]

  • See also
    Who
    What
    Where
    When
    In the Museum
    Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History
    MetPublications
120021001

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