1. Antonio Canova: a Practitioner of Neoclassicism and Napoleon’s Favorite Sculptor

2. Antonio Canova Cupid and Psyche 1787-1793 marble

4. Antonio Canova The Penitent Magdalene 1796 marble, height 94 cm Palazzo Bianco, Genoa

5. Antonio Canova Theseus and the Centaur Marble, height 340 cm Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

6. Paulina Borghese as Venus Victrix 1804-08 white marble

7. detail: Pauline Borghese as Venus 1804-08 white marble
Not a shy woman, Napoleon's sister commissioned this sculpture of herself. She demanded to be represented as the goddess of love. Her husband, Prince Borghese, was the work’s official patron; he kept this sculpture hidden away in their villa in Rome. People were allowed to look at it only by torchlight (see Gardner, ).
This sculpture added to Pauline’s already fairly notorious reputation. The fact that everyone knew about the sculpture and few had seen it, only added to the sculpture’s fame.
This is a work that represents an idealized vision of the female form, but Canova has also labored hard to represent the accompanying details of the couch and pillows with extraordinary naturalism.