The Head of a Dancer
after Antonio Canova (Possagno 1757 - Venice 1822)
Category
Art / Sculpture
Date
1816 (after) - 1830
Materials
Marble
Measurements
535 mm (Height)
Order this imageCollection
Attingham Park, Shropshire
NT 609429
Summary
Marble, The Head of a Dancer, after Antonio Canova (Possagno 1757 - Venice 1822), after 1816, circa 1820-30. An idealised bust of a woman, the head turned in profile to proper left, the hair elaborately styled in curls in a high chignon and decorated with a floral wreath. Drapery on the proper left, fastened with a clasp at the top of the proper left shoulder. On turned socle, circular base.
Full description
After an original 'Head of a Dancer', 1816, presented by Canova to the Duke of Wellington in 1817 in recognition of the Duke's role in returning works of art taken from Rome by Napoleon (Apsley House). The Wellington head was in turn derived from a marble figure of a dancer, 'Dancer with hands on her hips', produced by Canova for Empress Josephine de Beauharnais, wife of Napoleon Bonaparte, and exhibited at the 1812 Paris Salon. This figure was referred to by Canova as 'Erato, Muse of Amorous Dance'. The plaster model is in the Museo Gypsotheca Antonio Canova, Possagno; the first marble after the model was acquired by Alexander I of Russia and is now in the State Hermitage collection, St Petersburg. A bust nearly identical to the Attingham example (private collection, Holybrooke House, Wicklow), was offered for sale at Bonhams, Fine Decorative Arts sale, London, 12 July 2023 (lot 56). The catalogue entry draws a comparison between a bust of a muse signed by Adamo Tadolini (1788 - 1863) - Canova's student, assistant and prodigy - and the heads of a dancer at Attingham and Holybrooke. Tadolini and Canova's chief assistants continued to honour commissions after the sculptor's death in 1822. The studio also continued to produce sculpture in the Canovian style, as demand for sculptures by or after the master skyrocketed. Attingham's bust may belong to the group of works sculpted by Tadolini or the Canova studio around the time of or in the years after Canova's death (1820s). Attingham's example was formerly and erroneously believed to be a bust of Pauline Borghese, sister of Napoleon I. It was acquired by Thomas Henry Noel-Hill, 8th Baron Berwick (1877-1947) in the early 20th century as part of a wider scheme to replace Regency contents lost in the 1827 and 1829 sales.
Provenance
8th Lord Berwick's collection; bequeathed to the National Trust with the estate, house and contents of Attingham by Thomas Henry Noel-Hill, 8th Baron Berwick (1877-1947) on 15th May 1953.
Makers and roles
after Antonio Canova (Possagno 1757 - Venice 1822), sculptor