Apollo Crowning Himself

Object Details

Title:

Apollo Crowning Himself

Artist/Maker:

Antonio Canova (Italian, 1757 - 1822)

Culture:

Italian

Place:

Italy, Europe (Place created)

Date:

1781 - 1782

Medium:

Marble

Object Number:

95.SA.71

Dimensions:

84.7 cm (33 3/8 in.)

See more

See less

As Ovid told the story in his Metamorphoses, when the beautiful nymph Daphne finally escaped the pursuing Apollo by turning into a laurel tree, the Roman god of music and poetry pledged his unrequited love: "Although you cannot be my wife, you shall at least be my tree; I shall always wear you on my hair, on my quiver, O Laurel." In this marble, half-life-size statue inspired by this episode of the Metamorphoses, Apollo crowns himself with a laurel wreath. Nude except for sandals, his lyre hangs on the tree trunk that supports a piece of rumpled drapery. He stands in contrapposto, a balanced stance characterized by the opposition of straight and bent limbs, in a moment of reflection after the dramatic chase.

Apollo's nudity, his broad, muscular chest, and his relaxed, balanced pose all recall famous antique representations of the god. But while sculptor Antonio Canova clearly emulated several antiques, his Apollo is not a copy of an already existing statue. The commission for the marble was the result of a competition organized by Don Abbondio Rezzonico, nephew of the Venetian Pope Clement XIII. It is Canova's first fully classicizing work, carved in the Neoclassical style for which he soon became famous.

Provenance
1782 - 1810

Don Abbondio Rezzonico, Italian, 1742 - 1810 (Rome, Italy), bequeathed to Filippo Bernardo Orsini

1810 - before 1816

Prince Filippo Bernardo Orsini of Solofra, Italian, 1742 - 1824 (Rome, Italy)

by 1816 - after 1824

Baron Martial Noël Pierre Daru, French, 1774 - 1827, who took the sculpture to France sometime before 1824.

19th century

Duke of Treviso, Italian

before 1951

Chassinat-Grigot, French (Paris, France) [sold, Galerie Charpentier, Paris, 17 April 1951, lot 73, to Fabius Frères.]

1951 - 1957

Fabius Frères Gallery, French, 1882 - 2011 (Paris, France), sold to George Encil

1957 - after 1990

George Encil (Freeport, Bahamas) [Sotheby's, London, 13 December 1990, lot 94, unsold.]

after 1990 - 1995

Rainer Zietz Ltd. (London, United Kingdom), sold to the J. Paul Getty Museum, 1995.

Exhibitions
Rome on the Grand Tour (January 8 to August 11, 2002)
  • The J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center (Los Angeles), January 8 to August 11, 2002
Canova e la Venere Vincitrice (October 16, 2007 to February 10, 2008)
  • Museo e Galleria Borghese (Rome), October 16, 2007 to February 10, 2008
L'Antiquité rêvée: Innovations et résistances au XVIIIe siècle (December 2, 2010 to May 30, 2011)
  • Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, March 20 to May 30, 2011
Bibliography

de' Rossi, G. G. "Sopra il gruppo del Teseo vincitore del Minotauro." In Memorie per servire alla storia letteraria e civile (Venice: Pietro q.m Gio. Battista Pasquali, 1796), p. 56.

Tadini, Faustino. La sculture e le pitture di Antonio Canova, pubblicate fino a quest'anno 1795 (Venice: Palese, 1796), p. 37.

"Abbozzo di biografia di Antonio Canova" (c. 1804). Manuscript in the Biblioteca Civica of Bassano del Grappa, published in Studi Canoviani (Rome: Bulzoni, 1973), p. 229.

Fernow, C. I. "Über der Bildhaur Canova und disen Werke." Römische Studien (Zurich: Bei J. Gessner, 1806), vol. 1, pp. 75-76.

Neumayr, A. Illustrazione del Prato della Valle (Padua: Seminario, 1807), p. 329.

Catalogo cronologico delle sculture di Antonio Canova pubblicato dietro richiesta di S.A.R. il Principe di Bavaria (Rome: Bourliè, 1817), p. 4.

Paravia, P. A. Notizie intorno alla vita di Antonio Canova (Venice: Orlandelli, 1822), p. 53.

Cicognara, L. Biografia di Antonio Canova (Venice: Missiaglia, 1823), pp. 13, 58, 82.

Falier, G. Memorie per servire alla vita del Marchese Antonio Canova (Venice: Alvisopoli, 1823), p. 19, n. 1.

Albrizzi Teotochi, I. Opere di scultura e di plastica di Antonio Canova (Pisa: Capurro, 1824), vol. 4, pp. 102-44.

Cicognara, L. Storia della scultura dal suo risorgimento in Italia fino al secolo di Canova (Prato: Giachetti, 1824), vol. 7, p. 258.

Missirini, M. Della vita di Antonio Canova libri quattro (Prato: Giachetti, 1824), pp. 42, 500.

Rosini, G. Saggio sulla vita e sulle opere di Antonio Canova (Pisa: Capurro, 1825), p. 8.

Moses, H. The Works of Antonio Canova in Sculpture and Modelling (London: Prowett, 1828), unpaginated.

Quatremère de Quincy, A.C. Canova et ses ouvrages or Mémoires historiques sur la vie et les travaux de ce célèbre artiste (Paris: Le Clere, 1834), pp. 26-27.

d'Este, A. Memorie di Antonio Canova (Florence: Le Monnier, 1864), pp. 26, 303.

Malamani, V. Canova (Milan: Hoepli, 1911), p. 19.

Muñoz, A. "Le prime opere di Antonio Canova." Capitolium 7, no. 3 (1931), p. 122.

Bassi, E. Canova (Bergamo: Istituto Italiano d'Arte Grafiche, 1943), p. 15.

Fallani. G. Canova (Brescia: Morcelliana, 1949), p. 17.

Rossi, M. Catalogo illustrato delle opere di Antonio Canova (Treviso: Libreria Editrice Canova, 1950), p. 45.

Bassi, E. La Gipsoteca di Possagno (Venice: Neri Pozza, 1957), pp. 49-50.

Muñoz, A. Antonio Canova (Rome: Palombi, 1957), p. 22.

Honour, H. "Antonio Canova and the Anglo-Romans, Part II: The First Five Years in Rome." Connoisseur 144 (January 1960), p. 225.

Martinelli, V. "Canova e la forma neoclassica." Veltro 4 (July 1960), p. 22.

Hubert, G. La sculpture dans l'Italie napoléonienne (Paris: Boccard, 1964), p. 69.

Argan, G. C. Antonio Canova (Rome: Bulzoni, 1969), pp. 20, 105.

Honour, H. "Canova's Theseus and Minotaur." Victoria and Albert Museum Yearbook 1 (1969), pp. 4-5.

Pavanello, G. L'opera completa del Canova (Milan: Rizzoli, 1976), p. 91, no. 19.

Noè, E. "Rezzonicorum cineres: Ricerche sulla collezione Rezzonico." Rivista dell'Istituto Nazionale di Archeologia e Storia dell'Arte 3 (1980), p. 292.

Noè, E. "Il testamento di Abbondio Rezzonico." Arte veneta 36 (1982), p. 271.

Pavanello, G. "Antonio Canova: Apollo Crowning Himself." In Experience and Adventures of a Collector. George Encil, ed. (Paris: ACR Ed., 1989), pp. 350-61.

Pavanello, G. "Una scheda per l' 'Apollo che si incorona' di Antonio Canova." Antologia di belle arti, n.s., nos. 35-38 (Turin: Allemandi, 1990), pp. 4-12.

"Acquisitions/1995." The J. Paul Getty Museum Journal 24 (1996), pp. 138-39, no. 89.

Turner, Jane, ed. The Dictionary of Art (New York: Grove, 1996), vol. 5, p. 626, entry by G. Pavanello.

"J. Paul Getty Museum: Apollo." J. Paul Getty Trust Report (1995-96), p. 21.

"Acquisitions/ Sculpture." J. Paul Getty Museum Calendar (Spring 1996), unpaginated.

"Museum Acquisitions." Getty Bulletin 10 (Summer 1996), p. 17.

The J. Paul Getty Museum Handbook of the Collections. 4th ed. (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1997), p. 271, ill.

Gribbon, Deborah. "Selected Acquisitions Made by the J. Paul Getty Museum, 1995-97." Burlington Magazine 139, no. 1136 (November 1997), p. 823, no. 8, ill.

Walsh, John, and Deborah Gribbon. The J. Paul Getty Museum and Its Collections: A Museum for the New Century (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1997), p. 271, ill.

Fusco, Peter. Summary Catalogue of European Sculpture in the J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1997), p. 13, ill.

Bassett, Jane, and Peggy Fogelman. Looking at European Sculpture: A Guide to Technical Terms (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1997), pp. 24, 47.

"Selected Acquisitions Made by the J. Paul Getty Museum, 1995-1997." The Burlington Magazine 139, no. 1136 (November 1997), p. 823.

Fusco, Peter, Peggy Anne Fogelman, and Marietta Cambareri. Masterpieces of the J. Paul Getty Museum: European Sculpture (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1998), pp. 102-3, no. 37, ill., entry by Peggy Anne Fogelman.

Johns, Christopher M. S. Antonio Canova and the Politics of Patronage in Revolutionary and Napoleonic Europe (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998), pp. 48-49, fig. 20.

The J. Paul Getty Museum Handbook of the Collections. 6th ed. (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2001), pp. 270-71, ill.

Fogelman, Peggy, and Peter Fusco, with Marietta Cambareri. Italian and Spanish Sculpture: Catalogue of the J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2002), pp. 306-13, no. 39.

Fogelman, Peggy, and Peter Fusco, with Marietta Cambareri. Italian and Spanish Sculpture: Catalogue of the J. Paul Getty Museum Collection (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2002), pp. 306-313, ills. 39-39D, 39F.

Coliva, Anna and Fernando Mazzocca, eds. Canova e la Venere vincitric e, exh. cat. (Rome: Galleria Borghese, with Electa, 2007), pp.164-65, ill., entry by Fernando Mazzocca.

Faroult, Guillaume, et al., eds. Antiquity Revived: Neoclassical Art in the Eighteenth Century, exh. cat. (Houston: Museum of Fine Arts, with Musée du Louvre and Gallimard, 2011), p. 189, no. 106, ill. entry by Edgard Peters Bowron.

Related Media
  • /
    Audio: Apollo Crowning Himself