Sculpture “Cupid and Psyche” (1793) by Antonio Canova, reduced to artificial marble

Antonio Canova, born in Possagno near Bassano in 1757, was considered the greatest sculptural genius since Michelangelo. At the tender age of 15, he was already working in his own sculpture workshop for the Italian aristocracy. Success remained with him throughout his life until his death in Venice in 1822. Canova became the leading and most admired representative of Italian Neoclassicism across Europe. The Getty Museum in Malibu, California, offered around 10 million euros for Canova's "Three Graces." However, it was thanks to the persistent intervention of the British government and ultimately the generosity of art collectors and patrons J. Paul Getty and Baron Hans von Thyssen-Bornemisza that this unique gem of European sculpture remained in the United Kingdom.