Art Institute of ChicagoPublic domain

Bust of Paris

Antonio Canova · 1809

Analyst brief

What the record supports

Antonio Canova's "Bust of Paris," created in 1809, is a marble sculpture measuring 69.9 × 30.8 × 28 cm. With its socle, the total dimensions are 134.7 × 58.5 cm. Classified as a bust/head, it is part of the Painting and Sculpture of Europe department and reflects Italian culture. The sculpture was purchased by the Art Institute through the Harold Stuart Endowment and funds provided by Mrs. Harold T. Martin.

The provenance details indicate the bust was a gift from the artist to Antoine Chrysosome Quatremère de Quincy by 1810. It passed through his estate sale in 1850 and another sale in 1851. By 1908, it was with Madame Chesnet and sold to M. (Emilio?) Mihura. The Pradere family in Buenos Aires owned it before 1955, and it was later with Casa Pardo and Francisco Murature in Buenos Aires before the late 1950s. Mary-Anne Martin Fine Art, New York, sold it to the Art Institute in 1984.

The artwork has been included in two exhibitions: "Canova and France" at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1985, and "Canova: Sketching in Clay" in Washington, DC, and Chicago from 2023 to 2024. No other exhibitions are listed in the provided data. The bust has also been documented in numerous publications since 1825, including analyses of Canova's work and scholarly articles.

Generated from the catalogue fields shown on this page. Nartmad does not assert attributions, valuations or prices that no cited source supports.

Provenance

Ownership history

Antoine Chrysosome Quatremère de Quincy (died 1849), Paris, by 1810 [gift from the artist, according to Quatremère de Quincy, 1834]; sold, his estate sale, 14 rue de Condé, Paris, April 22, 1850, lot 2. Sold, Hôtel des Ventes Mobiliéres, Paris, March 15, 1851, lot 48. Madame Chesnet, before 1908; sold, her estate sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, December 7–8, 1908, lot 82, to M. (Emilio?) Mihura for 800 francs [see Gazette de l’Hôtel Drouot, December 10–11, 1908]. Pradere family, Buenos Aires, before 1955 [according to letter from Francisco Murature to Hugh Honour, February 10, 1983, in curatorial file]. Casa Pardo, Buenos Aires, by late 1950s [according to source cited above]; sold to Francisco Murature, Buenos Aires, by late 1950s [according to source cited above]. Mary-Anne Martin Fine Art, New York, by early 1980s; sold to the Art Institute, 1984.

Recorded by Art Institute of Chicago.

Exhibitions

Exhibition history

Art Institute of Chicago, Canova and France, Jan. 15–Feb. 20, 1985 [no cat].
Washington, DC, Canova: Sketching in Clay, June 11–Oct. 9, 2023, pl. 34; Art Institue of Chicago, Nov. 19, 2023-Mar. 18, 2024 [Chicago only].

Literature

Published references

J. S. Memes, Memoirs of Antonio Canova, with a Critical Analysis of his Works, and an Historical Overview of Modern Sculpture (Edinburgh, 1825), pp. 508, 576.
Antoine Quatremère de Quincy, Canova et ses ouvrages ou mémoires historiques sur la vie et les traveaux de ce célèbre artiste (Paris, 1834), p. 175, no. 1.
"Succession de Mme. C.," Gazette de l’hôtel Drouot 17, 347–48 (December 10–11, 1908).
René Schneider, Quatremère de Quincy et son intervention dans les arts: 1788-1830 (Paris, 1910), p. 381.
Elena Bassi, La Gipsoteca di Possagno: Sculture E Dipinti di Antonio Canova (Venice, 1957), pp. 180–81.
Gérard Hubert, La Sculpture dan l'Italie Napoléonienne (Paris, 1964), pp. 135-36 n. 6, fig. 43.
Mario Praz, L’Opera completa del Canova (Milan, 1976), p. 118, nos. 207, 208.
Ian Wardropper and Thomas Rowlands, "Antonio Canova and Quatremère de Quincy: The Gift of Friendship," Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies 15, 1 (1989), pp. 38–46.
Venice, Correr Museum, Canova (1992), p. 320, no.144 (ill.).
Hugh Honour, Edizione nazionale delle opere di Antonio Canova 1 (Rome, 1994), pp. 405, 414.
Ian Wardropper, "Collecting European Sculpture at the Art Institute of Chicago," Apollo 154, 475 (September 2001), pp. 9–10, no. 13.
Bassano del Grappa, Museo Civico, Canova (2003), pp. 398-99, fig. IV24.

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