THE REVIVAL ART COMPANY Publisher - Lot 522

THE REVIVAL ART COMPANY Publisher "Sleeping Lion", after Antonio CANOVA (1757-1822) Plaster reduction, in original box H 12 x W 23 x D 8 cm The original work, part of a pair, was created for the tomb of Pope Clement XIII in St. Peter's Basilica, Rome. Placed on the pontifical monument as a symbol of the poise and determination of St. Peter's successor (one is dozing, the other on the lookout), these compositions met with considerable success from the outset, and were copied even in the artist's lifetime. Masterpieces of classical animal art, their life-size or reduced copies quickly adorned English collections in the taste of the Grand Tour, as in the Sculpture Gallery at Chatsworth House, and even in the United States, where their bronze versions flank the entrance to the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.