Search results
People also ask
Who carved the Three Graces?
What is the meaning of the Three Graces?
What is a sculpting process like the Three Graces?
What do the Three Graces represent in Greek mythology?
Why was the Three Graces set on a marble plinth?
How did Canova Show the Graces?
Regarded internationally as a masterpiece of neoclassical European sculpture, The Three Graces was carved in Rome by Antonio Canova (1757 – 1822) between 1814 and 1817 for an English collector.
- The Three Graces | Canova, Antonio | V&A Explore The Collections
It was commissioned from Antonio Canova (1757-1822) by John...
- The Three Graces | Canova, Antonio | V&A Explore The Collections
The piece is carved from a single slab of white marble. Canova's assistants roughly blocked out the marble, leaving Canova to perform the final carving and shape the stone to highlight the Graces' soft flesh.
This celebrated sculpture represents Euphrosyne, Aglaia and Thalia, the three daughters of Zeus and Euryoneme according to Greek mythology. The Three Graces are associated with Aphrodite (Venus), and embody such qualities as shared friendship, or chastity, beauty and love.
The V&A holds two of Canova's most emblematic pieces, 'The Three Graces', jointly owned by National Museums Scotland, and 'Theseus and the Minotaur', which were transported to England before the artist's death in 1822.
It was commissioned from Antonio Canova (1757-1822) by John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford, who visited the sculptor in his studio in Rome in 1814, and was captivated by the group of the Three Graces which Canova had carved for the Empress Josephine, the estranged wife of Napoleon Bonaparte.
- A.4-1994
- November 20, 2002
- Sculpture Collection
Nov 21, 2023 · Works like The Three Graces began as small and loosely modeled sketches—bozzetti in Italian— where the artist raced to materialize his ideas in clay. Unlike marble carving, in which stone is subtracted from a larger block, sculpting in clay is an additive process in which lumps of the soft material can be pressed together to create forms.
The Three Graces, alternate view, in the Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia Canova went on to enjoy small commissions, but his fame did not come until 1780 when he traveled to Rome and found himself inspired and invigorated by the scope and quality of the art and architecture.