The Pugilists Creugas and Damoxenos : simplebooklet.com

Of ‘heroic size’, meaning larger than life-size, the discovery of these statues ofCreugas and Damoxenos, by no less than Canova’s favourite pupil, is an importantone. The only recorded second examples executed by a pupil of Canova, these statuesare a new discovery, and their full history is not known. They follow the original marble statues of Creugas and Damoxenos, known as thePugilists, which Canova completed in 1801 and 1806 for the Vatican, where theyare displayed in the Octagon Hall at the Pio Clementino Museum. The originalplasters of Creugas and Damoxenos, from which Canova transcribed his statues tomarble, were kept in his studio at Via San Giacomo until after his death when theywere removed to Canova’s Gypsotheca in Possagno in around 1829. The only evidence of Canova himself, or any of his pupils, receiving a commissionto make second versions of the Pugilists dates to 1802. Canova had completed hisstatue of Creugas for the Vatican and was still working on Damoxenos when hewas visited by the English collector Sir Simon Haughton Clarke, who commissionedfrom him replicas of both. By 1804 Canova had worked up his second Creugas inrough-hewn marble. It is not known how far Canova progressed with Creugas, or ifhe began the companion second version of Damoxenos. He may well have stoppedthe commission because, owing to the Napoleonic wars, Canova could not deliverto England. When the Treaty of Paris brought a pause in hostilities in 1814, Sir Simon Clarkewrote to remind Canova of his commission, but saying he would now prefer astatue of Venus. With Clarke’s commission cancelled, and with no record of eitherstatue of Creugas or Damoxenos being left unfinished in the artist's studio at hisdeath in 1822, it is not known what happened to the second versions. By 1812 Canova had been joined by a new apprentice who fast became hisfavourite. The young Rinaldo Rinaldi had been studying in Venice under Canova’sfriend and biographer Count Leopoldo Cicognara. Canova immediately recognisedRinaldi’s abilities and encouraged him to exhibit at the Academy of Saint Luke aplaster standing figure Triumphant Athlete in 1813. Synopsis

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A marble group Cephalus and Procris, exhibited in 1814, won Rinaldi a prize andaffirmed the adoration of Canova who exclaimed “that it would have been superb ifRinaldi were my son”. By 1815, Rinaldi is known to have collaborated with Canova onthe important commission of Mars and Venus for the Prince Regent. In the certainty that a second version of Creugas was begun by Canova, it is temptingto think of the young Rinaldi completing the pair. It is also possible that Rinaldi undertook an independent commission for thesefigures. Working in Canova’s studio, Rinaldi would have had every opportunity totranscribe the plasters to marble during Canova’s lifetime or after his death, butbefore the plasters were removed to Possagno. After Canova’s death Rinaldi was retained at Canova’s studio to complete partfinished works and new commissions, such as repetitions of Canova’s self-portraitbusts for Count Cicognara and the Duke of Devonshire, for the latter Rinaldi alsosculpted the Sleeping Lion at Chatsworth in 1825. From 1829, the remaining marbles and plasters from Canova’s studio at Via delleColonnette were removed to Possagno where Creugas and Damoxenos are recordedat Canova’s Gypsotheca in a catalogue dated 1837. Rinaldi took up the lease ofCanova’s studio and for the remainder of his long career he fulfilled ampleprestigious commissions for his own creations and not as a copyist of Canova. In the 1840s a pair of copies of Creugas and Damoxenos were supplied toChatsworth by Francesco Bienaimé (1844-1871). They, however, are crude imitationsand were not made in marble with reference to Canova’s plasters. In the 1880s, a pairof marble statuary versions were made for the Botanical Gardens in Sydney,Australia. Later still, a Roman studio called Morelli e Rinaldi (no relation) were makingcopies of Creugas and Damoxenos, such as the pair delivered to the Olympic Club inSan Franciso in 1914. The present marble versions should not be confused with suchlater replicas. The present pair are signed ‘Rinaldi Rinaldo Roma’ and attributed to Rinaldi workingfrom Canova’s plasters circa 1815-1830. We are grateful for the research given by Moira MascottoDirettore Museo Gypsotheca Antonio Canova

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1 Pausanias, Description of Greece, 8.40. Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. Canova's boxers Creugas and Damoxenos flanking his statue of Perseus in the Octagon Hall at theMuseo Pio-Clementino, Vatican, Rome. The two men were boxers from ancient Greece. They fought for many hours, untilboth men agreed to settle the contest with a single, undefended blow.Damoxenos killed Creugas with a blow judged to be a foul. Their depiction is taken from the writings of Pausanias, a Greek traveller andgeographer of the second century AD. Creugas is a boxer from Epidamnus whomeets Damoxenos from Syracuse at the Nemea games in south-east Greece.There were no rounds in ancient boxing, the fighters fought until one of themcollapsed. The fighters in those days did not have gloves, but wore slim strips ofrawhide, called himantes, which were crisscrossed around the hands, so Creugas and Damoxenos 1

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Detail of youths boxing from a ceramic bowl, Greek 430-420 B.C. (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Catharine Page Perkins Fund 96.720) 2 John. J. Hermann Jr. and Christine Kondoleon, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, 2004, p.100. Games for the gods: the Greek athlete and the Olympic Spirit,2that their fingers were left bare. Most blows were delivered to the face andhead. Competitors fought until a knockout, or a submission determined thewinner. It was considered a serious infringement of the games to kill a man, andit entailed immediate banishment from the games and victory for the opponent.Creugas and Damoxenos had fought for a whole day with equal strength. Asdarkness fell, they agreed in the presence of the judges that each would submitto one blow from the other without making any defence. Creugas stuckDamoxenos on the head. Damoxenos did not collapse, so Creugas removed hishand straps, which can be seen discarded on the floor beside him. Damoxenosreadying Creugas for his blow, tells him to hold up his arm. Creugas tenses hisbody. Then, Damoxenos grasps the fingers of his right hand, pointing themtogether, and strikes under the ribs which such force that when he withdrew hishand, he pulled out Creugas’ intestines. Creugas expired on the spot, and thejudges disqualified Damoxenos for cheating. The victory was given to thedeceased Creugas and he was commemorated with a statue at Argos.Damoxenos was banished.Creugas is characterised as a beautiful Athlete whilst Damoxenos’ face iscontorted in rage, the creases of his forehead and the piercing eyes indicate thestate of his troubled soul.

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Creugas and Damoxenos by Antonio Canova, completed 1801 and 1806 in the Pio Clementino Museum, theVatican, Rome (Giuseppe Pavanello and Mario Praz, L'opera completa del Canova, Rizzoli (Milan), 1976. PlatesXXVI and XXVII). Canova’s CommisionCanova's original marble statues of these boxers are housed in the Pio ClementinoMuseum, part of the Vatican Museums. The two marbles were not prompted by anycommission but bought by Pope Pius VII to replace the antique masterpieces carriedoff by the French following the surrender of the Papal State to Revolutionary Franceunder the Treaty of Tolentino (1797). Canova’s statue of Perseus replaced the ApolloBelvedere and was the first modern work of art to enter the Vatican Collections.Flanking Perseus, Creugas and Damoxenos replaced antique statues of pugilists. Thiswas a crowning achievement for Canova and the Octagon Hall at the Pio Clementino,where they are housed, is known as the ‘Gabinetto del Canova’ (Cabinet of Canova orCanova Room). In recognition, Pius VII designated Canova Inspector General of theFine Arts of the Papal States, giving him authority over the Vatican museums andestablishing Canova’s international fame. ‘For Canova it was little short of anapotheosis. For Pius VII and Cardinal Consalvi, who had engineered the wholeoperation, it was above all a way of making a clear political statement in response tothe outrages suffered by the Vatican in those tormented years’.33 A. Pinelli, La sfida rispettosa di Antonio Canova. Genesi e peripezie del “Perseo trionfante”, Ricerche di Storia dell’Arte, p. 35.

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4 Giuseppe Pavanello and Giandomenico Romanelli, Canova, Marsilio Editori (Venice). 1992, No. 130 Creugas p. 274. Portrait of the sculptor Antonio Canova (1757-1822) Painting by Xavier Fabre (1766-1837) 1812(Musée Fabre Montpellier). The carved marble foot, bottom right, is thought to belong to his statueDamoxenos. 4By his own initiative Canova had begun sketches and models of the figures in the1790s and completed the marble figure of Creugas in 1801. Pope Pius VII acquiredit for the Vatican collections and then commissioned the figure of Damoxenos topartner it, completed in 1806. According to Quatremère de Quincy, writing in 1804,Canova had ‘taken the theme form a design on a Greek vase… from the newcollection of Mr. Hamilton’ and there are obvious connections with famousantique statues, the Naples Tyrannicides, the Vatican Discus Thrower, theBorghese Gladiator and the Monte Cavallo Colossi, which Canova had studied indetail. In his Storia della Scultura (1824), Count Leopoldo Cicognara describes the originand meaning of the Pugilists. Canova had achieved a work worthy of his talent “in asevere and vigorous style, which could lead artists and schools to anunderstanding of his manner of study

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Preparatory sketches and models (Giuseppe Pavanello and Mario Praz, L'opera completa del Canova,Rizzoli (Milan), p. 106).5 Leopoldo Cicognara, 1823, pp. 169-179. 6 Modello eseguito nel 1800. vescovo di Mindo, 1837, p. 31. No. 129 Creugante and No. 130 Damosseno. Storia della scultura: dal suo risorgimento in Italia fino al secolo di Canova, Vol. 7. Gypsotheca canoviana eretta in Possagno da mons. Giambatista Sartori Canova, and composition in that genre; having finally made a work to satisfy himself, he knewhe had solemnly demonstrated how deep and serious his studies in this style wereand how not only the graces guided his hand, caressing the soft contours ofvoluptuous limbs, but how he had felt all the Herculean might in order to wield hishammer on the chisel with such strength and make marble chips fly from the deeply-felt, taut strong muscles of athletes and combatants”.The conception of the Pugilists goes back to 1794-95, the date of the first drawings,and various clay models would have followed culminating in the plasters which arepreserved in the Museum Gypsotheca Antonio Canova in Possagno (Inv. No. 50).These are the models Canova used to make the Vatican marbles and they are pin-pricked with the marks needed to transcribe them from plaster to marble. Theywere removed to Possagno after 1829 and installed at the Gypsotheca by 1837.The rough-hewn marble statue of Creugas was begun in 1797, and started again in1799 when Canova returned to Rome following his long self-imposed exile inPossagno. Creugas was finally completed at the end of 1801 and bought by PopePius VII for the Vatican Museum in 1802, when Damoxenos was commissioned topartner it. The resulting plaster of Damoxenos, made in 1803, differs slightly from itsoriginal conception of 1796. The marble was finished in 1806.Canova sent plaster casts of Creugas to the major European academies in Milan,Florence, London, Vienna and Venice. When a cast was sent to Paris in 1804 theFrench where critical,apart from the painters François Gérard and Jacques-LouisDavid, and the sculptor Antoine-Denis Chaudet, who much admired Canova’smasculine neoclassicism.56

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7 The Atlantic Magazine, June 1824, New York, pp. 154-155. 8 Catalogue of Statues, Busts, Studies, Etc. Forming The Collection of the Antique School of the National Academy of Design, New York. 1846, page 10. ‘No. 146, 147, CREUGAS AND DAMOXENUS, BY CANOVA. The originals are in the Vatican, at Rome’. Creugas and Damoxenos, plaster (Louvre Abu Dhabi). Plaster casts of Creugas and Damoxenos described as ‘by Canova’ are recorded atthe National Academy of Design, New York in 1824. For the benefit of its pupils, theAntique School of the National Academy of Design, New York, had a collection ofnearly fifty statues, statuettes, busts, and bas-reliefs of the best models. A pair ofplaster casts are preserved in the Louvre Abu Dhabi (Inv. No. LAD 2012.010.002).78

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Francesco Chiarottini, Canova’s studio, 1786 (Civici Musei di Udine).9Rinaldi’s obituary in The New York Herald, 17 August 1873, p. 6.10Roma artistica, Biografia di Rinaldo Rinaldi, Vol. 1., 1872, p. 90. 910Canova’s FavouriteRinaldo Rinaldi was the favourite pupil of Antonio Canova and entered Canova'sstudio at the age of nineteen, when, after having begun his studies in art in Padua, heobtained a pension to continue his studies in Rome in 1812. Canova said of his pupil“You are a born sculptor! Would to heaven that you were my son".Canova made this compliment in response to Rinaldi’s group of Cephalus and Procriswhich won him a prize in 1814 from the Academy of Saint Luke in Rome. Canova,returning to his students, with his thoughts fixed on the work he had seen, could notrefrain from exclaiming, "that it would have been superb if Rinaldi were my son"(“Che sarebbe stato superbo che il Rinaldi fosse suo figlio”). These words were thecause of much jealously and envy amongst Canova’s other students.

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." ( 11 , Vente 16 Déc. 1843, pp. 5-6.) "Mars et Vénus by Canova. Ce magnifique groupe, un peu plus grand que nature, fut exécuté par Canova d'après son modèle en terre, moulé en plâtre. Mais l'artiste ayant rencontré dans le marbre quelques veines bleuâtres qui lut semblaient nuire à la pureté et à lu perfection de son chef-d'oeuvre, il entreprit un aulre marbre qui fut envoyé en Angleterre. A la mort de Cauova, M. Pierre Fumaroli acheta la modèle en plâtre et le groupe presque terminé en marbre. Il ne restait plus qu'à dégager quelques accessoires. M. Rinaldo Rinaldi, célèbre sculpteur de Padoue, membre de l'Académie de Saint-Luc, qui avait passé toute sa vie dans l'atelier de Canova et qui avait travaillé au marbre en voyé en Angleterre, fut chargé de terminer le pre- mier groupe. Tous ces faits sont constatés dans une déclaration authentique do M. Rinaldi, en date du 15 novembre 1841 Notice de marbres antiques et modernes appartenant à M. Fumaroli, de RomeIn the eyes of his master, Rinaldi’s abilities clearly eclipsed his fellow apprentices, andit is recorded as early as 1815 that Rinaldi worked on Canova’s Mars and Venus,which was a commission for the Prince Regent, later George IV (1762–1830), for afigure group in marble marking the defeat of Napoleon. Completed in 1819, itremains part of the British Royal Collection at Buckingham Palace (RCIN 2038). WhenCanova and Rinaldi began Mars and Venus, they found the block of marble to haveveining which harmed the perfection of such a masterpiece and, accordingly, theyundertook another marble which was sent to England.After Canova’s death in 1822 Mr. Pietro Fumaroli, tax collector of Rome and a patronof the arts, bought the plaster model and the unfinished first marble group andengaged Rinaldi to complete it. Rinaldi would spend his whole career in Canova’sstudio and had worked on the marble sent to England. This version of Mars andVenus was included in a selling exhibition of statues and paintings belonging to Mr.Fumaroli, of 7, rue Neuve-des-Bons-Enfans, Paris, held in December 1843. It isrecorded that ‘all these facts are recorded in authentic declaration of Mr Rinaldi,dated 15 November 1841’. This version of Mars and Venus was acquired by theMarquess of Salamanca (1811 –1883) who gave it to the Museo del Prado in 1881,where it remains (Inv. No. E000810). That Rinaldi is recorded to have worked on sucha prestigious commission as Mars and Venus is evidence of his consummate abilitiesand Canova’s high regard for his pupil.

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Rinaldi is recorded to have worked with Canova on this version of Mars and Venus at BuckinghamPalace, London, and the other version in the PradoMuseum, Madrid (© Royal Collection Trust). Rinaldi completed this version of Mars and Venus for Pietro Fumaroli. It was sold in Paris in 1843 to the Marquess of Salamanca (1811 –1883) who gave it to theMuseo del Prado in 1881 (© Museo Nacional del Prado). 12 Guida per visitare la galleria e le sale della insigne Accademia Romana di Belle Arti denominata di San Luca, Rome, 1882, p. 12. 12In his early period whilst working with Canova, Rinaldi was no mere assistant but acommissioned sculptor in his own right. Rinaldi’s choice of subjects at this time aretruly heroic. He executed a series of masculine neoclassical figures: TriumphantAthlete (plaster, 1813), which won the Canova prize for sculpture that year, Adonis(marble, 1816, Accademia Galleries Venice), and Chiron and Achilles (marble, 1817Cortile della Ca' d'oro, Venice). Rinaldi is even recorded to have sculpted his ownPugillatore (1816, Academy of St. Luke, Rome).

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Adonis by Rinaldo Rinaldi (marble, 1816, Accademia Galleries Venice). Chiron and Achilles by Rinaldo Rinaldi (marble, 1814, Cortile della Ca' d'oro, Venice). 216. 14 13 Honour, Hugh. ‘Canova's Studio Practice II: 1791–1822.’ Victoria And Albert Museum, No. 114 (April 1972), p. , 1931. pp, 3-4. The Burlington MagazineReview Of The Principal Acquisitions During The Year 19301314During his lifetime Canova also gave permission for his pupils to copy his work. In1814 Luigi Zandomeneghi (1778 - 1850) wrote from Venice to say he had beencommissioned to carve copies of four works by Canova – the Cupid and Psycheand copies of four other works by Canova. A note on the letter, in Canova’s hand,lists: Paride, Venere, Musa – presumably the three works he considered suitable.Shortly afterwards, Zandomeneghi wrote to Canova about the transport of theplaster casts. In around 1816, Canova secured a commission for Adamo Tadolini(1788 – 1863) to model small replicas of Cupid and Psyche and two of the Dancers.Canova gave the gesso modello for Cupid and Psyche to Tadolini who carved threecopies from it: he also carved copies of other works including Hebe and Venus. Thestatue Sleeping Nymph in the V&A Museum, London, was made in plaster byCanova in 1820 and commissioned in marble in 1821 for Lord Lansdowne, butcompleted by his workshop and delivered in 1824. The considerable output ofCanova’s studio over a long period shows that assistants were generally employedin carrying out his works in marble.

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Winged Lion by Rinaldo Rinaldi for the Canova Monument (marble, 1827,Basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari in Venice). 15 Murray, Lady, 16 Robert Cheshire. , Vol. I, 1836, p. 310 , first. Marquess of Westminster (1767–1845). for Eaton Hall, Journal of a Tour in ItalyGrosvenorCephalus and Procris16Lady Murray records that during Canova’s lifetime Rinaldi had begun a version ofCephalus and Procris for a gentleman who died. The statue required four or fivemonths’ work to complete, but Rinaldi could not obtain payment from the heirs ofhis deceased patron, and as Canova, the only witness, had also died, it was leftunfinished in his studio until Lord Grosvenor commissioned its completion.15After Canova’s death, his great friend Count Leopoldo Cicognara gatheredsubscriptions from across Europe to erect a memorial to Canova – one which Canovahimself had designed for the tomb of Titian but which had remained unexecuted.The monument of Antonio Canova at the Basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari inVenice was completed by five of Canova’s pupils. The figures represent, from left:Genius Resting, by Giuseppe Fabris, Winged Lion, by Rinaldo Rinaldi, the medallionrelief by Antonio Bosa, the veiled figure of Sculpture carrying an urn, by BartolomeoFerrari, her attendant the Genietto, also by Rinaldo Rinaldi, the weeping figures ofPainting and Architecture, by Luigi Zandomeneghi and their boy attendants, again, byRinaldo Rinaldi.

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1900, p.147-148. 17 Ricordi autobiografici di Adamo Tadolini,17Canova’s estate was inherited by his half-brother Giovanni Battista Sartori, known asSartori-Canova (1775-1858). Antonio d’ Este (1754-1837), Canova’s friend and hommed'affaires remained in charge of the studio and Cincinnato Baruzzi (1796 –1878) andRinaldo Rinaldi were retained. This caused some jealously from Canova’s otherprincipal followers, namely Adamo Tadolini, and contributed to controversyregarding the unfinished marble pieces which remained in Canova’s studio. In hisautobiography Adamo Tadolini claims that before he died, Canova had wantedTadolini to complete the works left in his workshop and Rinaldi only in turn if Tadoliniwas unable. Tadolini also accuses Rinaldi of suffering from precarious personalfinances in 1822 which stopped him giving his fullest attention to completing theworks. Nonetheless, Tadolini acknowledges that ultimately Rinaldi was chosen tocomplete his master’s works, with Cincinnato Baruzzi to direct affairs. Tadolini alsoclaimed, somewhat disingenuously, that the continuation of Canova’s studio after hisdeath was unsuccessful and received no foreign visitors.

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A Sculptor in his Studio Working from Life by Wilhelm Bendz (Danish,1804-1832) (1827). The model emulates the pose of Creugas whilst thesculpture works on a modello. (National Gallery of Denmark, inv. KMS62). 18 Lucy Coletti, ‘Unknown Works of Antonio Canova’ inNo. 2. February 1928, p. 79-80. . Springfield, Vol. XVI. Art In America And Elsewhere18Cicognara himself lists seventeen part completed marble works of consequence andsixteen or more busts. Some are called repetitions or replicas, for example Canova’sVenus, Dancers and Paris are listed as replicas. They are titled under “Marble pieceson which the sculptor was working” and “Marble pieces in advanced state ofcompletion but on which the sculptor has not placed the final touches”. This has fedmuch academic debate about what pieces are workshop of Canova and finishedposthumously by his studio. No second versions in marble, complete or otherwise,of Creugas or Domaxenos are listed in Canova’s studio after his death.

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Paris, Workshop of Antonio Canova.This version was recorded unfinishedin Canova’s studio at his death in1822 and was completed by hisassistants the following year and soldto the third Marquess of Londonderryin late 1826 or early 1827 byCanova's half-brother GiovanniBattista Sartori (The MetropolitanMuseum of Art, New York, AccessionNumber: 2003.21.2). 19 “Ils y admiraient une œuvre à peu près complète de Canova, dans une reproduction en plâtre de presque tous ses ouvrages, et quelques marbres en petit nombre dus à ce gracieux ciseau; enfin, les praticiens y travaillaient à l'exécution de plusieurs figures en marbre, modelées par Canova et commandées par la Russie et l'Angleterre. La promenade à l'atelier désert du grand artiste fut très-mélancolique.” Souvenirs et correspondance tirés des papiers de Mme Récamier, Paris, 1860, p. 156 19When Juliet Recamier visited the studio in November 1823, accompanied by AbbotSartori-Canova, she saw “an almost complete work of Canova, plaster reproductionsof almost all his works, and a few marbles in small number due to this gracefulchisel; finally, the practitioners worked there on the execution of several marblefigures, modelled by Canova and commissioned by Russia and England.”William, 6th Duke of Devonshire had been in Rome in 1819 and commissioned fromCanova the Sleeping Endymion. He returned shortly after Canova’s death and metwith Rinaldi. Amongst other works he ordered were copies of Canova’s famous lionson the monument to Pope Clement XIII Rezzonico in St Peter’s, which were executedby Rinaldi and Francesco Benaglia. They were completed and set up at Chatsworthten years later as a memorial to Canova. Above the lions in niches above theentrance door are busts of Canova by Rinaldo Rinaldi and of the 6th Duke by ThomasCampbell (1790-1858).

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Sleeping Lion, after Canova, by Rinaldo Rinaldi (marble, 1825, Sculpture Gallery, Chatsworth House, Derbyshire), 202122 Giuseppe Pavanello and Giandomenico Romanelli, Canova, Marsilio Editori (Venice). 1992,. No. 140 ‘Bust of Leopoldo Cicognara’ p. 312. “In Cicognara’s house there were also two gigantic busts: the first, of Cicognara, by Canova, and his latest work; the second of Canova, but his clever pupil Rinaldo Rinaldi, after the original so admirably sculptured by Canova himself.” Antoine Valery, Historical, literary, and artistic travels in Italy, 1852, Paris, pp. 164-165. The location of the colossal bust of Cicognara finished by Rinaldi is unknown. Most likely it is the example at the Palazzo Bonacossi. The colossal bust of Canova, sculpted by Rinaldi, appears in Francesco Hayez’s Portrait of the Cicognara family (present location is unknown). 202122Canova sculpted a bust of his friend and biographer, Leopolodo Cicognara, in 1819-22 which was destined for his tomb in the Certosa cemetery, Ferrara. A colossalversion of the bust of Cicognara was listed in Canova’s studio after his death lackingonly the finishing touches. It was completed by Rinaldi. To pair with it, Cicognaracommissioned from Rinaldi a colossal repetition of Canova’s self-portrait. Cicognaraplaced his portrait, and Canova’s, side by side so they could look at each other “withsweet melancholy”.

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Portrait of the Cicognara family, with the bust of Antonio Canova by Francesco Hayez (1791-1882). Oil on canvas, 1816-1817. (Private Collection). The self-portrait bust of Antonio Canova is arepetition ordered by Cicognara and sculpted by Rinaldo Rinaldi. In 1829, Abbot Sartori-Canova began to remove any remaining works and plastersfrom Canova’s Rome studio. In Possagno, Abbot Sartori-Canova, completed theTemple Canoviano, the colossal church built to Canova’s design. He then turned hisattention to building in the garden of the Canova house in Possagno, the GypsothecaCanoviana to display the plasters of the sculptor. Erected between 1834 and 1836,the plasters of Creugas and Damoxenos are recorded there in a catalogue dated1837.

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The plasters in the Museum Gypsotheca Antonio Canova in Possagno. Rinaldi’s CommissionCanova’s followers Tadolini, D’Este, Zandomeneghi and Baruzzi are all recorded tohave made copies of Canova’s work during his lifetime or shortly after his death. Likethem, Rinaldi worked in Canova’s studio and had access to Canova’s plaster models.Rinaldi, the apparent favourite pupil of Canova, had shown from his own early workan instinct for epic masculine figures. He is known to have worked with his master onthe heroic group of Mars and Venus for the Prince Regent. Therefore, when acommission came for the present statues, for copies of Creugas and Damoxenos,Rinaldi would have been the natural choice to sculpt them.Canova received such a commission for copies of Creugas and Damoxenos from SirSimon Haughton Clarke 9th Baronet (1764–1832), a West Indies merchant, said to bethe seventh richest man in England. Clarke met Canova for the first time in Rome,probably in 1802. At this time Canova had completed his statue of Creugas theprevious year, sold it to Pope Pius VII, and was still working on and Damoxenos,which had just been ordered by the Pontif. Clarke visited Canova and commissionedfrom him replicas of Creugas and Damoxenos.2323 Sir Hugh Honour, Canova's Statue of a Dancer, National Gallery of Canada, Bulletin 11 (VI:1), 1968 (https://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/205/301/ic/cdc/bulletin/num11/honour3.html).

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24 25 Translated from Canova’s letter as quoted by Dr. Alessio Costarelli, ‘Antonio Canova e gli Inglesi: fonti, committenza ed interrelazioni culturali’, (51. Canova a Prince Hoare, Roma, 16 giugno 1804), Doctorate, University of Bologna, 2021, No. 54, p. 428. “anzi in questo intervallo mi sono impegnato di rifare la stessa statua [scil. di cui doveva fornire un calco in gesso alla Royal Academy of Arts] in marmo per un Caval. Inglese che dovrà poi portarsela [seco]” Sir Hugh Honour cites a letter from Clarke to Canova which proves that the Dancer in the National Gallery of Canada was completed before Canova’s death. This is contrary to Cicognara and D’Esta which lists the Dancer as being completed posthumously. By mid-June 1804 Clarke’s replica of Creugas was at the rough-hewn stage andCanova was still working on it when he wrote to Prince Hoare that “indeed in thisinterval I have undertaken to remake the same statue [of which I had to provide aplaster cast to the Royal Academy of Arts] in marble for an English knight who willthen have to take it [with him]”. It is not known if Canova completed Creugas orbegan Damoxenos to partner it, as the commission was not able to be deliveredowing to the Napoleonic wars. In 1814 Clarke wrote to remind Canova of hiscommission, but saying he would now prefer a statue of Venus. Sir Simon Clarkewould ultimately receive from Canova a statue of Terpsichore, signed and dated1816, now in the Cleveland Museum, and a Dancer, completed in 1822, now in theNational Gallery of Canada.No trace remains of the second Creugas and it was not listed among the works leftunfinished in the artist's studio at his death. It is possible that Rinaldi, upon joiningCanova’s studio in 1812, worked to complete Clarke’s commission for Creugas andDamoxenos before Clarke wrote to Canova in 1814 to change the commission, andthat they are the statues we have here.It is tantalising to think that this statue of Creugas was begun by Canova and the pairwere completed by Rinaldi, his favourite pupil. An alternative is that Rinaldi fulfilled a separate commission for Creugas andDamoxenos either during Canova’s life or after his death, but before removal of theplasters to Possagno. Rinaldi is known to have completed Canova’s unfinished worksand between 1826 and 1829 take definitive possession of Canova’s studio on the Viadelle Colonnette. The plasters of Creugas and Damoxenos are recorded in acatalogue of the Gypsotheca Canoviana in 1837.2524

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The “cavar punti” method: making a copy using small bronze pegs applied to a model that served to transfer the dimensions into the marble block. Detail of the plaster of Creugas showing pointing marks (courtesy Museo Gypsotheca Antonio Canova). This gives a window of Rinaldi undertaking a commission for the Pugilists sometimebetween 1815 and the early 1830s. This timeframe encompasses when Rinaldi isknown to have worked on large marble groups with Canova, such as Mars andVenus, and when, after his master’s death, Rinaldi made repetitions of Canova’sworks, such as the Sleeping Lion and Canova’s bust for Chatsworth.

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Pointing machine. The plaster model would be placed next to the marble,and the points repeated with the use of compasses, pantographs and plumblines to a scale of 1:1. This method allowed for the faithful transfer fromplaster to stone (courtesy Museo Gypsotheca Antonio Canova). In the same way as Canova before him, Rinaldi would have transcribed the presentstatues of Creugas and Damoxenos to marble from a plaster cast. For this purpose,the plasters preserved in the Gypsotheca in Possagno are pinpricked with countlesspointing marks. The plaster would have to be alongside the marble being carved totranscribe the corresponding points. Rinaldi would have transcribed from Canova’soriginal plasters before they were removed to Possagno. Rinaldi’s statues areexactingly close in detail to Canova’s originals. There were various marble cutters and assistants who worked for Canova who didnot go on to distinguish themselves. The assistants were different from Rinaldi andTadolini, who became sculptors, in their own right, and received prizes andcommissions. Canova helped the sculptors who worked for him find commissions forboth original works and copies. They would make models, including the complex ironaperture work for clay, which Canova is credited with inventing, prepare plasters andrough out the marble. They would leave a thick veil over the entire statue so Canovacould focus on the surface of the sculpture. Certainly, they carved a great number ofstatues themselves almost to completion.

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262728 Francesco Hayez, Le mie memorie dettate da Francesco Hayez, Milan, 1890, p.26 “Up to this period I never had received any instructions from a master, nor had I studied in any academy. At my own request Canova allowed me to copy his fine Pugilist, the marble statue is in the Vatican. I began to model my copy from the cast at the studio. After I had worked at the clay a few days down it all fell. It seems that my Master had observed to his foreman, Signor Desti, that my figure must fall, “for,” said he, “you see that he does not know anything about the skeletonwork ; but let him proceed, and when his figure comes down show him how the mechanical part is done.” T. Matthews, The Biography Of John Gibson R.A, London, 1911, pp.45-46. Murray, Lady, Journal of a Tour in Italy, Vol. I, 1836, p. 316. 262728“Canova made his models in clay; cast in plaster, different good young men helpedhim with rough-hewing the marble. Two of them, then become famous sculptors,brought it to the degree of fineness, which would be said to be finished; neverthelessthey had to leave a small coarseness of marble still, which was by Canova workedaccording to what this illustrious artist believed he had to do.” As a student in Rome, John Gibson (1790-1866) was allowed by Canova to attempta small copy of the pugilist in the Vatican, but his clay model collapsed, and Canovahad to instruct D’Este to assist him. Canova was said to prefer not to carve accessories like helmets and straps, butobsess over flesh, hair and drapery. The contemporary account of Lady Murry,records that no one equals Rinaldi in the particular excellence of finishing marble. The commission of the present statues, of heroic size in marble, would have been asupremely costly and princely undertaking. Rinaldi would have been under noillusion of the importance to his master’s legacy of replicating two of Canova’sgreatest works. The skill of Rinaldi is evident in the proportions of the figures, theirpose, the tension of the muscles and the capturing of their expressions. Theartistry of Rinaldi’s chisel is evident in the finishing of the marble, the curl of thetoes, the throbbing veins, the bark of the tree stumps and the cross hatching of theground.

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‘The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins’Rinaldo Rinaldi (1793–1873) marble, 1855 Walker Art Gallery ‘Peneolope’Rinaldo Rinaldi (1793–1873) marble, 1851Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Rinaldi’s Later Work Although Canova’s fame had once seemed eternal, by the middle of the nineteenthcentury his style of heroic neoclassicism had begun to fall from favour. A trendtowards romanticism and realism diminished Canova’s importance in Europeancircles. A new generation of Italian sculptors such as Adamo’s son, Scipione Tadolini(1822–1893), and others like Pietro Magni (1817 - 1877), ushered in a new school ofItalian sculpture. Like Canova, Rinaldi believed that mythological, allegorical and heroic subjects arethe most suitable for the plastic arts, because they allow the nude, which is one ofthe most essential cognitions of beauty.

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29303132 33 Translated from Jean Arnaud, L'Académie de Saint-Luc à Rome: considérations historiques depuis son origine jusqu'à nos jours (H. Loescher Rome), 1886, p. 185. Murray, Lady, Journal of a Tour in Italy, Vol. I, 1836, p. 310 Penelope by Rinaldo Rinaldi was commissioned by John Rhea Barton upon visiting Rinaldi’s studio in Rome and gifted to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Rinaldi executed at least two repetitions of his statue The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins. The example in the Walker Art Gallery was bequeathed by Daniel Busby, 1887. Another was in the possession of Mrs. Alpheus Hardy of Boston. Ashton Rollins Willard, History of Modern Italian Art, New York, 1898, pp. 58-59 Rinaldi was a true classicist, and he reacted against the painterly style whichfashionably imbued the Italian sculpture of Canova’s successors: “Rinaldo-Rinaldi stubbornly refused to enlist in the ranks of the new school of sculpture.An enthusiastic admirer of Canova’s statuary, he was often heard to protest against thetendencies of the innovators because their sculpture invaded, he said, the terrain ofpainting. The character of his sculpture is absolutely the same as that of Canova’s works.Of all the pupils of the illustrious Italian sculptor, Rinaldo-Rinaldi was, in fact the one whobest rendered the master’s manner. He was gifted, moreover, with a prodigious aptitudefor the art of statuary.” Lady Murray noted:“Rinaldi Rinaldi, a Venetian, was for some time a pupil of Canova, and works the marble inthe same beautiful style. I spent hours in his studio, where he always gave free access, andthough visitors a little interrupted him, he seemed to work with more spirit in company”.Albeit continuing in the classical vein, by the 1850s Rinaldi is shown to have movedaway from Canova’s heroic neoclassicism and instead responded to the fashion ofthe time by sculpting more female figures. Reflecting the emerging Victorian tastes ofhis cleintele, Rinaldi chose more sentimental and allegorical subjects.Rinaldi was visited by Tsar Nicholas I in 1845, and nine years later, the ‘Art Journal’records that: “Rinaldi is largely indebted to the patronage of the Emperor of Russia, whose nameconstantly occurs as a purchaser of some of the finest works in Rome”.The article records that Rinaldi is sharing Canova’s studio: “Rinaldi; an artist whose works have made his name well known in England, whose studio Ivisited yesterday. At Rinaldi’s one is particularly reminded of Canova from the locality,once his studio, now divided into half, the first and larger division belonging to Rinaldi, thesecond to Mr. Shakspeare Wood, a rising young artist”.Illustrative of how Rinaldi’s style had changed by the middle of the nineteenthcentury are his celebrated statues of Penelope of 1851 (Pennsylvania Academy of theFine Arts) and The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgin of 1855 (Walker ArtGallery). These statues “show that Rinaldi advanced with the advancing taste of hisday, and gave up the attempt to perpetuate the style of Canova after he saw that ithad become unpopular”.3233302931

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34 Count Hawks Le Grice, , 1841. pp. 97-99. Walks through the studios of the sculptors at Rome34Tsars Nicholas I and Alexander II were important patrons for Rinaldi in the 1840s and1850s, but English collectors were the most prolific patrons of the day. RobertGrosvenor, 1st Marquess of Westminster (1767-1845) acquired semi-colossal marblestatues of Rinald’s Cephalus and Procris and Ulysses recognized by Argos for EatonHall, Cheshire. For George Sutherland- Leveson-Gower, 2nd Duke of Sutherland(1786-1861) Rinaldi sculpted The Delphic Sybil, which once presided over the stairs atStafford House but is now in the gardens at Cliveden, Buckinghamshire. By the middle of the century when Rinaldi had reached his period of maturity, it isevident that Canova’s style had fallen somewhat from favour. Rinaldi was busy withample prestigious commissions for his own work. Although there is no evidence ofRinaldi executing repetitions of Canova’s work at this time it is probable that hisstudio continued to produce small replicas of Canova’s work for visiting tourists. Inthis later period, it is stylistically incongruous and most improbable that Rinaldiwould have undertaken such a monumental commission as Creugas andDamoxenos. It would have also been technically impossible without working fromCanova’s plasters which had years before been removed to the Gypsotheca inPossagno.

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Later Copies Of The Pugilists Creugas and Damoxenos, marble, circa 1840. Chatsworth House, Derbyshire. Christina Ferando, ‘Maidservant as muse: The dramatic reinvention of Antonio Canova’. , Issue 3, December 2010, p. 1. HistoriographyThe Journal of Art 35 35The reputation of the Pugilists had been disseminated widely by Canova sendingplaster casts to the art academies across Europe where they were admired andstudied. The earliest known marble copy of the Pugilists were supplied to ChatsworthHouse, probably by Francesco Bienaimé, as part of a commission for garden statuarymade by the 6th Duke of Devonshire in the 1840s. Tellingly the statues at Chatsworthare crude facsimiles which differ considerably from Canova’s models and wereclearly executed without references to Canova’s plasters. This supports the likelihoodthat the original plasters, having been removed to Possagno, were not available to becopied, even at the behest of such as illustrations patron as the 6th Duke who hadfirstly been a patron of both Canova and Rinaldi.During the mid-nineteenth century, changing trends inspired by romanticism andrealism had chipped away at Canova’s importance. Some of his most famous statues,such as Perseus and the boxers Creugas and Damoxenus were criticised as being tooderivative of the antique. However, by the late nineteenth century there began arevived interest in Canova, whose life was even dramatized in a play by LodovicoMuratori (1834-1919).By the late nineteenth century there were established in Rome, Florence and Naples,and at the quarries at Carrara, a number of manufactures specialising in thereproduction in bronze and marble of antique and modern sculpture.

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Creugas and Damoxenos, marble, 1884. The Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney. Each titled‘The Boxers / Canova’. The galleries of sculptors, such as Antonio Frilli, Raffaello Romanelli and PietroBazzanti, grew their studios to large ateliers retailing copies of ancient andmodern statuary. The Canova revival begin in earnest in the 1880s and an international clienteleof collectors and museums drove demand for replicas of Canova’s works. Newmodels and new plasters were made, and new marble facsimiles were carved invarious sizes. Canova’s most lyrical and sensual subjects were most popular andThe Three Graces, Venus Italica, Hebe and Cupid and Psyche, were most widelyreproduced in reduction. 9 July 1884, p. 2. 36Galignani’s Messenger,36A pair of plaster casts of Creugas and Damoxenos were given to the National Galleryof Australia in 1884 by Sir James R. Fairfax (1834–1919). “From these casts werecopied in marble the statues in the grounds leading to the Botanical Gardens.Though well executed, those statues are in what is termed second quality marble,intended for outdoor exposure, therefore they are not expected to be as accuratecasts as the originals”.

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Creugas and Damoxenos, marble, 1914. The Olympic Club of San Francisco. Further evidence of the production of replicas by larger manufacturers in the latenineteenth century are copies of Creugas and Damoxenos by ‘Morelli e Rinaldi’ of 132via del Babuino, Rome, who are recorded around 1900 making reproductions ofancient bronzes and marbles. One such pair were unveiled on New Year’s Day 1914at The Olympic Club of San Francisco, a gift from Louis Hoefler and described as “twostatues of heroic size and exact reproductions of the figures by Canova”. Note howthe positioning and shape of the bases differ from the originals. Another pair of latecopies, also by ‘Morelli e Rinaldi’, sold at Skinner, Boston, 19 July 2014, lot 246.

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Portrait of Rinaldo Rinaldi, by Cherubino Cornienti, 1851(Academy of Saint Luke, Rome). Rinaldo Rinaldi (Padua, 1793- Rome, 1873) “Rinaldo Rinaldi, a native of Padua; after receiving his first education as an artist in theAcademy at Venice, he received the highest prize, and was sent with the usual pension toRome. He was received into the studio of Canova, and became one of his favouriteassistants and pupils. Rinaldi is at present Professor of Sculpture in the Academy of St.Luke, at Rome. His style is that of his master, Canova.” (Anna Jameson, Catalogue of the works of art assembled in the Courts of modernsculpture in the Crystal Palace at Sydenham, 1854, p. 57.”)

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Saint Anthony of Padua at his death by Rinaldo Rinaldi, 1808 (Church of Arcella, near Padua). Rinaldo Rinaldi was born in the city of Padua on the 13th April 1793 to DomenicoRinaldi and Teresa dei Conti Pisani. At the age of eight he began to work in woodsculpture with his father, who practiced this art. At the age of fourteen hepersuaded his father to purchase for him a block of Costosa stone from which hesculpted a life-size statue of Saint Anthony which amazed his father. Local peopleraised money to procure it for the Church of Arcella, near Padua. At sixteen hewent to Venice to study at the Academy of Fine Arts where under Count LeopoldoCicognara, the dean, and Professor Matteini, the painting teacher, Rinaldi receivedan academic education, which installed a devotion to Greek and Roman art. At the age of nineteen he obtained through a competition a pension to Rome tostudy at the Academy of Saint Luke, granted to him in 1812 by Emperor Napoleon Iand later confirmed by Emperor Francis I. He was recommended in Rome by CountLeopoldo Cicognara to Antonio Canova, who taught the young Rinaldi that an artistmust first study the old masters before acting on his own conception. “Among the contemporary sculptors of whom Italy is honoured, there is perhaps notone who, from his earliest youth, gave greater hopes, and who realized them in a moredazzling style as Rinaldo Rinaldi. For a long time, the number and variety of his works,the finish and the beauty which distinguish them, have placed Rinaldi at the forefront ofthe artists of our time. It was of him that the famous Canova wrote to Cicognara:‘Rinaldi was born a sculptor; he can do what he wants’. The young artist showed himselfmore and more worthy of the baptism that the man of genius had given him”. (‘Le Sculpteur Rinaldo et L’Acedémie de Milan’, L'Artiste Revue de Paris, Ser. 4, v. 6,Paris. (March - June 1846), pp-18-19).

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3738 " “Che sarebbe stato superbo che il Rinaldi fosse suo figlio”. Rome Artistica, 1872, p. 90. “Il vostro Rinaldi mi sta raccomandato quasi figlio, e vi basti: come bastar vi deve che io v'abbia detto una volta per sempre che sono e sarò costantemente il vostro aifezionatissimo amico.” (Un'amicizia di Antonio Canova: lettere di lui al conte Leopoldo Cicognara, p. 53). 3738At this time, Canova was at the height of his powers and a patron of young talent.Canova turned his studio into a kind of academy for young artists; among themwere Alessandro and Antonio d’Este, Domenico Manera, Carlo Finelli, RaimondoTrentanove, Massimiliano Laboureur, Adamo Tadolini and Rinaldo Rinaldi. Canovaestablished in 1812 the Concorso dell’Anonimo, which was a bequest to encourageyoung artists. At the Academy of Saint Luke, Rinaldi exhibited a plaster standing figureTriumphant Athlete in 1813 and modelled the group Cephalus and Procris whichwon him a prize in 1814 and the approval of Canova who, returning to hisstudents, with his thoughts fixed on the work he had seen, could not refrain fromexclaiming, “that it would have been superb if Rinaldi were my son”. These wordswere the cause of much jealously and envy amongst Canova’s students. In 1815 Rinaldi worked on Canova’s Mars and Venus, which was a commission forthe Prince Regent, later George IV (1762–1830). In 1818 Rinaldi created themonument of Cardinal Lorenzo Prospero Bottini (Church of the Holy Cross andSaint Bonaventure, Rome). Following Canova’s death in 1822 his estate was inherited by his half-brotherGiovanni Battista Sartori, known as Sartori-Canova (1775-1858). Antonio d’ Este(1754-1837), Canova’s friend and homme d'affaires remained in charge of thestudio and Cincinnato Baruzzi (1796 –1878) and Rinaldo Rinaldi were retained.Rinaldi fulfilled commissions, completing statues unfinished at the time ofCanova’s death and undertaking fresh commissions such as the Sleeping Lion andBust of Canova for the 6th Duke of Devonshire (1825). When Canova’s studio wasclosed in 1826 and the contents were moved to Gypsotheca Antonio Canova inPossagno in 1829, Rinaldi took definitive possession of the premises that hadbelonged to his master.

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3940 Translated from Jean Arnaud, L'Académie de Saint-Luc à Rome: considérations historiques depuis son origine Statuto della insigne artistica Congregazione de’ Virtuosi al Pantheon, 1839, p. 38. jusqu'à nos jours (H. Loescher Rome), 1886, p. 185. Rinaldo Rinaldi, monument to Giuseppe Sisco (marble, 1830. Church of St. Louis of the French in Rome) 39By the middle of the nineteenth century Rinaldi style of sculpture was criticised bysome for being too faithful to Canova, whose neoclassicism had begun to fall fromfavour: “Rinaldo-Rinaldi stubbornly refused to enlist in the ranks of the new school of sculpture.An enthusiastic admirer of Canova’s statuary, he was often heard to protest against thetendencies of the innovators because their sculpture invaded, he said, the terrain ofpainting. The character of his sculpture is absolutely the same as that of Canova’sworks. Of all the pupils of the illustrious Italian sculptor, Rinaldo-Rinaldi was, in fact theone who best rendered the master’s manner. He was gifted, moreover, with aprodigious aptitude for the art of statuary.” The monument to Giuseppe Sisco at theChurch of St. Louis of the French inRome, executed in 1830, is stronglyinfluenced by Canova, even eight yearsafter the master's death. In 1831 he created the monument ofCardinal Francesco Bertazzoli (Basilica ofSaint Mary of Minerva, Rome), a work stillCanova-like in iconography, which alsoreflects the rigidity and symmetry of theworks of Bertel Thorvaldsen. In 1839 Rinaldi was elected to theAccademia dei Virtuosi al Pantheon,where he is cited as “director of theengraving of the awarded works insculpture”, academician of merit of theAcademy of Saint Luke and the Academyof Fine Arts of Venice. 40

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Statue of Pope Gregory XVI (r. 1831-46) by RinaldoRinaldi (marble, 1850. Basilica of Saint Paul OutsideThe Walls, Rome). Rinaldo Rinaldi. Amenaide Awaiting Tancredi(marble. 1846. State Hermitage Museum, SaintPetersburg. Inv. No. N.Sq.198). By the middle of the century, the trend towards romanticism and realism in Italiansculpture had diminished Canova’s importance. Rinaldi continued in the classicalvein, but by the 1850s can be seen to imbue his statues with greater character andto sculpt them to look more like people than Greek gods. Rinaldi was visited by Tsar Nicholas I in 1845, and nine years later, the ‘Art Journal’records that: “Rinaldi is largely indebted to the patronage of the Emperor of Russia, whose nameconstantly occurs as a purchaser of some of the finest works in Rome”. The articlerecords that Rinaldi is sharing Canova’s studio: “Rinaldi; an artist whose works havemade his name well known in England, whose studio I visited yesterday. At Rinaldi’s oneis particularly reminded of Canova from the locality, once his studio, now divided intohalf, the first and larger division belonging to Rinaldi, the second to Mr. ShakspeareWood, a rising young artist”. This visitor is critical of Rinaldi’s style, writing that:“but a small portion of Canova’s mantle has, however, fallen on the shoulders of hispupil, for Rinaldi’s works, generally, are conspicuous for the feebleness, both of designand execution, which characterises those of so many modern Italian sculptors.” The critic characterises Rinaldi’s creations as “all rather distinguished by grace thanby power or originality of conception” but acknowledges his commercial success,recording favourably a bass-relief The Triumph of Bacchus and Ariadne, executedfor Prince Torlonia, a statue of Erminia, for the Duke of Sutherland, Joan of Arc andEve before the Fall. 41 ‘A Walk Through the Studios of Rome’, The Art Journal, London, 1 October 1854, Volume 6, Issue 70. pp. 287-289. 41

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42 Penelope by Rinaldo Rinaldi was commissioned by John Rhea Barton upon visiting Rinaldi’s studio in Rome and gifted to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. 43 Rinaldi executed at least two repetitions of his statue The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins. The example in the Walker Art Gallery was bequeathed by Daniel Busby, 1887. Another was in the possession of Mrs. Alpheus Hardy of Boston. 44 Ashton Rollins Willard, History of Modern Italian Art, New York, 1898, pp. 58-59 Rinaldo Rinaldi, The mausoleum of Carlo Finelli (marble, 1857. Saint Bernard at the Baths, Rome). Illustrative of how Rinaldi’s style had changed by the middle of the nineteenthcentury are his celebrated statues of Penelope of 1851 (Pennsylvania Academy of theFine Arts) and The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgin of 1855 (Walker ArtGallery). These statues “show that Rinaldi advanced with the advancing taste of hisday, and gave up the attempt to perpetuate the style of Canova after he saw that ithad become unpopular”. 424443There is a relief carved panel to themausoleum of the sculptor Carlo Finelli(Saint Bernard at the Baths, Rome),executed by Rinaldi in 1857, in which heimmortalises himself in the figure ofthe man who leads the children in thepresence of the pope. During his period of maturity, Rinaldiexhibited at the Fine Art Exhibition,Turin in 1854 and at the Industrial andArtistic Exhibition, Florence, 1861. Hisstatue of The Repentance of Eve andInfant Bacchus, were offered for sale atthe International Exhibition of Arts andManufacturers, Dublin 1865. In 1849 Rinaldi was called to the Municipal Council of the short-lived Roman Republicto represent the artists of Rome. When the papal government was restored byFrench military force, Rinaldi like many of his friends and fellow artists, was brieflyimprisoned. Rinaldi’s last work references his nationalism. It was a statue ofFortunato Calvi, a young, martyred colonel, who had fought with Garibaldi, unveiledin his home city of Noale in 1872.

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At the age of eighty years old Rinaldi continued to work tirelessly. His studio was fullof works begun or ready to be delivered to clients. In 1871 recorded in his studio is abust of Napoleon I in Pentelic marble, a copy of the plaster model left by Canova toRinaldi. Rinaldo Rinaldi died in Rome on 28 July 1873. During his long artistic career Rinaldicompleted an extraordinary number of works. From his earliest works preserved atthe Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice, to his work in Canova’s studio, Rinaldi went onto complete as many as two hundred figural groups and statues of his own creation,twelve colossal bas-reliefs, eighteen or twenty sepulchral monuments and more thanthree hundred busts. There is no catalogue raisonné for Rinaldi, and despite his vastoutput, many of his works have not been traced or remain unpublished. His workrarely appears on the art market.

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Statues Triumphant Athlete (plaster, 1813 Academy St.Luke, Rome). Adonis (1816, Accademia Galleries Venice). Chiron and Achilles (1817, Cortile della Ca' d'oro, Venice). The Marchioness of Westminster (bust, 1836, Walker Art Gallery). Ulysses Recognized by Argos (1840s, heroic size, Duke of Westminster, Eaton Hall,Chesire).Neptune (1844, Museum of Modern Art, Rome). Cephalus and Procris (1830s and Louvre exhibition of 1845; heroic size, Duke ofWestminster, Eaton Hall, Chesire).Ulysses Recognized by Argos (1840s, reduction in marble, formerly with TomassoBrothers, London).Erminia or Amenaide Awaiting Tancredi (1846, State Hermitage Museum, St.Petersburg). Terpsichore (1846, State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg). Erminia or Amenaide Awaiting Tancredi (1852, for the Duke of Sutherland, Sotheby’s,London, 2008). Penelope (1851, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts). The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgin (1855, Walker Art Gallery). The Repentance of Eve (1862, Dublin International Exhibition, 1862 and with MossGreen, London, 2007). Minerva (Grand Hotel de la Minerve, Rome).Hebe (1864, Lytham St Annes Art Collection, UK). Honours Honorary Member, Academy of Fine Arts of Venice, 1823. Honorary Member,Academy of Fine Arts of Rome, 1830. Virtuosi of the Pantheon, 1831. HonoraryMember, Academy of Fine Arts Philadelphia in the United States, 1863. Insignia of theOrder of St. Gregory by Pope Pius IX, 1870. Knight of the Order of the Crown of Italy,granted by King Victor Emmanuel II, 1871.

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Tombs and Monuments Cardinal Lorenzo Prospero Bottini, 1818 (Church of the Holy Cross and SaintBonaventure, Rome). Monsignor Carlo Zen, 1825 (Church of San Carlo ai Catinari, Rome). Antonio Canova, 1827 (Basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, Venice). Giuseppe Sisco, 1830 (Church of St. Louis of the French, Rome). Cardinal Ercole Consalvi and the Marquis Andrea, 1831 (Church of San Marcello alCorso, Rome). Baldi, 1833 (Church of St. Louis of the French, Rome). Triumph of Bacchus Bas-Relief, 1835 (Villa Prince Alexander Torlonia, Rome,). Ceres teaching agriculture to Triptolemus, 1835/36 (Villa Ferrajoli, Albano). Pope Gregory XVI, bust, 1836 (Hospital of Saint-Jacques, Rome). Count Giuseppe Cini, 1842 (Church of Jesus and Mary at the Corso, Rome). Three Angels, 1840s (Church of the Most Holy Name, Rome). Pope Gregory XVI, colossal statue, 1850 (Basilica of Saint Paul Outside The Walls,Rome). Carlo Finelli Monument, 1857 (Saint Bernard at the Baths, Rome). Cardinal Giacomo Savelli mausoleum, 1864 (Church of Santa Maria in Aquiro, Rome). Rosa Bottai monument, 1870 (Campo Verano Cemetery, Rome). Monument to Pietro Fortunate Calivi, 1871 (Noale). Statues, location unknown Joan of Arc (Duchess of Escars and a reduction in marble at Finarte, Milan, 2021).Androcles removing a Thorn from the Lion's Paw.Sappho singing Odes to Phaon.Cassandra Embracing the Altar.Metabus hurling his daughter to Safety.Adam and Eve.Rebecca.Hymen with a Torch.Lost Time and Gained Time..

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LiteratureLiterature for Rinaldo Rinaldi Literature for Antonio Canova Il Tiberino, ‘Lettera di M, A. G. alla signora T. C. E. sulle opere dello ScultoreRINALDO RINALDI di Padova.’ March 1834, Rome, pp. 30-31. Count Hawks Le Grice, Walks through the studios of the sculptors at Rome,1841. pp. 97-99. L'Artiste Revue de Paris ‘Le Sculpteur Rinaldo et L’Acedémie de Milan’, Ser.4, v. 6, Paris. (Mar. - June 1846), pp-18-19. J. Arnaud, L'Académie de Saint-Luc à Rome: considérations historiquesdepuis son origine jusqu'à nos jours, Rome, 1886, p. 185 Roma artistica, ‘Biografia di Rinaldo Rinaldi’, Vol. 1., 1872, L’Art in Italia rivista mensile di belle arti, Vol. V, 1873, pp. 127-128. Francesco Franco, ‘RINALDI, Rinaldo’, Biographical Dictionary of Italians,Volume 87 (2016). M. H. De Latouche, Oeuvre de Canova recueil de gravures d’apres sesstatues et ses bas-reliefs exécutées par M. Réveil, Paris, 1825. No. 28.J. S. Memes, Memoirs of Antonio Canova, with a critical analysis of hisworks, and an historical view of modern sculpture, Edinburgh, 1825, pp.404-411.Countes Albrizzi and Count Cicognara, The Works of Antonio Canova inSculpture and Modelling Engraved in Oultine by Henry Moses. Vol. 1.London, 1824, 126-135. Lucy Coletti, ‘Unknown Works of Antonio Canova’ in Art In America AndElsewhere. Springfield, Vol. XVI. No. 2. February 1928, p. 78-91. Hugh Honour. ‘Canova's Studio Practice II: 1791–1822.’ The BurlingtonMagazine 114 (April 1972), pp. 214–29. Giuseppe Pavanello and Mario Praz, L'opera completa del Canova, Milan,1976. No. 126, 127 & 128 'Creugante' pp. 105-106. & No. 127 'Damosseno'p. 129 & 130. p. 106. Giuseppe Pavanello and Giandomenico Romanelli,Canova, Venice, 1992,. No. 130 ‘Creugas’ pp. 274-277. & No. 131‘Damoxenos’ p. 278-281. https://www.museocanova.it/opere/sculture/creugante/ https://collection.louvreabudhabi.ae/en/object/fight-between-creugas-and-damoxenos- 100005047

The Pugilists Creugas and Damoxenos

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