Antonio Canova Three Graces

After the decorative and elaborate Baroque and Rococo period, the Neo-Classical movement began to dominate Europe, rejecting the high charged emotional Baroque works to recreate the order and simplicity found in Antiquity. Artists and sculptors who followed this movement sought influence from Greek and Roman Traditional art and the subject matter often reinvented mythological tales. This was not just a reaction against the decadent Rococo period, but the public became interested in seeing the recreation of composed classical art after the excavation of historical sites such as Athens and Pompeii.

Antonio Canova (1757-1822) was born in the small village of Possagno, Venice. During his lifetime, he eventually came to be at the forefront of

The main difference can be seen in the rigid composition that was often used to portray the Three Graces, as the two outer Graces in the ancient version face forwards, and the middle – the oldest and wisest – faces backwards. The women look outwards and lean away from each other. Although the composition is balanced and symmetrical, a key characteristic of Antiquity, it does not effectively show the unity and harmony between the Graces. Many other artists who depicted the Three Graces, for example Raphael’s, show the Graces reaching out holding apples and looking down. On the contrary, Canova shows the three women linked together, in a uniting embrace that represents the alliance of the Graces. Moreover, the thin, translucent looking piece of material that they hold highlights the sisterly bond between them and pinpoints their all-encompassing love. This connection that interlinks all three Graces perhaps mimics the ‘giving and receiving’ action within friendship and kindness that comes with the idea of Grace. Unlike older portrayals of the Graces, Canova sculpts them so that they are facing each other, softly glancing into each other’s eyes. Not only does this further emphasize the harmonious bond between them, but it also creates a subdued emotional connection. It is this restrained emotion and “soft transitions in [the] subtle and sinuous composition” that are key characteristics of the Neo-Classical