Sculpture between the Graceful and the Heroic

This chapter discusses the focus of neoclassical idealization of antiquity on sculpture, comparing the work of Antonio Canova to that of Bertel Thorvaldsen. Antonio Canova’s Theseus and the Minotaur has been described as the first neoclassical sculpture. This chapter begins with a discussion of the fluctuating reputation of Canova as a diagnosis of the mixed feelings aroused by neoclassicism. It contains close reading of Canova’s Theseus as a neoclassical work, and of his Three Graces, particularly in relation to the role of grace as a quality attributed to the ancient world, and to the equivocation between marble and flesh in its figures. The second part of the chapter considers the sculptures of Bertel Thorvaldsen as neoclassical ‘correctives’ to Canova and compares their different approaches to the same subjects or ancient models. Canova’s Three Graces and Perseus are compared to Thorvaldsen’s Three Graces and Jason, and the chapter ends with a comparison between the two sculptors’ treatment of the figure of Hebe, a neoclassical icon. Throughout, attention is paid to the reinterpretation of ancient models, such as the Apollo Belvedere.