Canova Ideal Heads

Antonio Canova (1757-1822) was the greatest sculptor of his time. This is the story of an unusual gift of sculpture he made to four Englishmen. In 1815, he was Pope Pius VII's representative to the Paris Peace Conference to seek restitution o f great art from Rome and the Vatican handed to French Revolutionary armies under the Treaty of Tolentino. He thanked four Englishmen for helping to fulfill his mission by creating four 'ideal heads' -- for William Hamilton, the Duke of Wellington, Sir Charles Long and Viscount Castlereaugh. Covers his techniques, particularly in relation to the coloring of sculpture. (The Hamilton head was sold at Sotheby's in 1995 and landed in the Ashmolean.)