After Antonio Canova (1757-1822)
Italian Dancing Girl (Dancer with Hands on Hips), undated copy
MARBLE, 20 ½ inches high
Gift of the Estate of Laura H. Stone

Antonio Canova had an enduring influence upon the development of sculpture in the nineteenth century, though his stratospheric reputation declined quickly as tastes changed in favor of romanticism in the decades following his death. Canova is recognized as per­haps the quintessential sculptor of the late eighteenth-century neoclassical era; his pure white marbles embody the idealism and clarity of expression that characterize the period and its sources in ancient Greek and Roman art. Nearly four times the size of this reproduction, Canova's original Dancer with Hands on Hips is today in the collection of Russia's Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg,