Rome's Villa Borghese Gallery is hosting a landmark show on the great neoclassical sculptor Antonio Canova, gathering 16 of his best-known works from the world's leading museums.
The blockbuster exhibit revolves around Canova's most iconic work - the statue of Pauline Bonaparte - commissioned by her husband Prince Camillo Borghese in 1805.
The sculpture, considered a defining moment in the concept of neoclassical beauty, has never left the Gallery since it was installed there in 1808.
The marble statue shows Napoleon's sister as Venus Victrix, the winner in the judgement of Paris, the shepherd-prince asked to choose between the goddesses Juno (power), Minerva (intelligence) and Venus (love).
It was said that Borghese - who sold part of his family's famous collection of antiquities to Napoleon - was more jealous of Canova's work than he was of his philandering wife.
Canova returned the compliment by defining the Borghese estate as "the most beautiful villa in the world", and curators said it was fitting that the Gallery has been chosen as the venue for Rome's first show on the artist.
The exhibit celebrates the 250th anniversary of the sculptor's birth and the 200th anniversary of the Venus Victrix, a symbol for the Borghese Gallery's legendary art collection.
Curators Anna Coliva and Fernando Mazzocca said the show offers art critics an opportunity to investigate the complex links between Canova, Borghese and the Bonaparte family and the artist's decision to portray Paolina as a semi-nude goddess, in a major break with canonical portraiture of high-ranking personalities.
Canova (1757-1822) worked for popes, kings, bankers and Russian counts. But he was especially busy for Napoleon Bonaparte, whom he portrayed in various guises so flatteringly that in 1797 Napoleon placed the artist under his wing.
The sculptor was particularly fascinated by the figure of Venus - which is also represented by loans from the Leeds City Art Gallery and the Florence's Galleria Palatina - but his entire oeuvre features an array of Greek mythological figures.
EXCEPTIONAL LOANS FROM WORLD'S LEADING MUSEUMS.
Among the exceptional loans for the Borghese exhibit are the Three Graces from St. Petersburg's Hermitage, the Sleeping Nymph from London's Victoria and Albert Museum, the Naiads from New York's Metropolitan Museum and Cupid and Psyche from the Louvre.
The show gathers all of Canova's amorini - the chubby cherub god of love - most of which were produced in the 1790s and includes the Hermitage's Yusupov Cupid, the only sculpture where he represented the god with wings.
Other masterpieces from the Rome gallery - Bernini's sculptures of Apollo and Daphne and Pluto and Proserpine and Titian's Sacred and Profane Love have been strategically placed to flank Canova's interpretation of the same themes.
At least 50 masterpieces are on show along with a number of drawings, preparatory sketches, and terracotta and clay models in a bid to give visitors an insight into Canova's creative process.
The exhibit runs through February 3.
