Offered by Galerie Gilles Linossier
Reduction from the originals created by Antonio Canova for the tomb of Pope Clement XIII in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. Placed on the pontifical monument as a symbol of weight and determination of the successor of Saint Peter (one is dozing and the other on the lookout), these compositions met with considerable fortune from their creation and were copied in the very time of the artist. . Masterpieces of classical animal art, their life-size or reduced copies quickly adorned English collections in the style of the Grand Tour, such as at the Sculpture Gallery in Chatsworth House, and even in the United States, where their versions in bronze flank the entrance to the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. The reductions were quickly marketed in multiple materials. The pair we are offering you is made from a very exceptional material, Coade stone. A mixture of ceramic and stone, this material, an ancestor of cement, does particular justice to the finesse of the imprint, here of very good quality. A bronze medal on the reverse dates these objects to the middle of the 19th century. Sun: L 33cm; l 11.5cm; Height: 14cm
