HERMITAGE, The Three Graces By Canova Room 241

The Three Graces by the sculptor Antonio Canova, is undoubtedly one of the most famous statues of all time. Canova is considered the greatest of the Neoclassical sculptors, and has even been compared to Phidias, the peerless sculptor of the temples of Athens. The Three Graces was a huge success immediately upon its completion, and Canova soon had to make a copy of it for the Duke of Bedford, which you can now admire in the Victoria and Albert Museum.

The sculpture you can see here was commissioned by Napoleon Bonaparte's wife, Josephine of Beauharnais, around 1812. Josephine died three years before the work was completed, however, and it became the property of her son Eugène.

The statue, carved from a single block of marble, portrays the three mythological daughters of Zeus and Eurynome: Euphrosyne, Aglaia and Thalia, said to represent respectively the joy, elegance and beauty of youth....