Cupid and Psyche

1775–1800

Shows his statues by candlelight

In the last quarter of the eighteenth century it became fashionable to view galleries at night by torchlight, and Canova seized on the fad: he displayed his works in his studio by candlelight and finished the statues by candlelight with special tools, softening the transitions between the parts of the nude. He then rubbed the marble with pumice, sometimes for weeks or months, and if need be with tripoli and lead.

1790–1795

The monument to Titian is never built

In 1790 he began work on a pyramid-shaped tomb for Titian in the church of the Frari, but by 1795 the project was abandoned for lack of funds. Canova reused the idea for the tomb of Archduchess Maria Christina in the Augustinian church in Vienna.

1790s

Declines Catherine the Great’s invitation

News of Canova’s work reached Russia, and Empress Catherine II tried to summon the sculptor to her court; he politely declined the honourable invitation and, in thanks, made a second version of “Cupid and Psyche”, now in the Hermitage in St Petersburg.

1791–1818

Honorary member of many academies in Europe and America

Canova was elected an honorary member of many academies: Florence (1791), Stockholm (1796), Verona (1803), Venice (1804), Siena (1805), Lucca (1806), St Petersburg (1804), Geneva (1804), Denmark (1805), Graz (1812), Marseille (1813), Monaco (1814), New York (1817), Antwerp and Vilnius (1818), and also Philadelphia.

May 1792

Returns to Possagno to recover his health

Strenuous work had weakened his health, and in May 1792 Canova decided to visit his family in Possagno; on his way back to Rome he stopped in Padua, Vicenza, Verona, Mantua, Parma, Modena and Bologna, winning general acclaim in every one of them.

1794

Makes an exception: restores sculptures for Zulian

Canova disliked restoring ancient statues, but in 1794 he made an exception for his friend and early patron Zulian, restoring several sculptures that Zulian had moved from Rome to Venice.