Leopoldine Esterházy von Galántha, subsequently Prinzessin von Liechtenstein. Engraving by A. Bertini after G. Tognoli after A. Canova.

  • Canova, Antonio, 1757-1822.
Date:
1800-1899
Reference:
3087368i
  • Pictures

About this work

Description

Marie Leopoldine Princess Esterházy von Galántha (1788-1846), who married in 1806 Prince Moritz Joseph Johann Baptist von Liechtenstein (1775-1819). She holds a porte-crayon with which she is drawing a landscape. "Princess Leopoldina Esterhazy. (A statue in marble.) The beauty of the Grecian youth, to which that fine climate was so favorable, greatly contributed to the high degree of perfection to which the fine arts attained there, and which, perhaps, will never be reached by any people living under a less propitious sky; there, the imagination of the artist, aided by the sight of female charms, like those of the Princess before us, formed those perfect ideas of beauty, which, embodied in their exquisite figures of Venus, have ever commanded the admiration of their posterity. With all the charms of youthful beauty and graceful manners, the Princess Leopoldina could not fail to kindle the fancy of our great sculptor. He has represented her rather above the natural size, sitting on a rustic seat, and exercising her elegant talent for landscape painting; the left foot, on which is an elegant sandal, is extended forward, while the right being drawn in, gives a graceful ease to her attitude; her head is slightly turned toward some object that she is about to sketch on her tablet, which, held in her left hand, is supported on her lap, while the right hand, resting against her side, holds the pencil in readiness to obey her dictates : from the graceful animation of the head, and the sprightly but attentive expression of the countenance, it seems that some delightful landscape lies before her which she is going to sketch. Her beautiful tresses are disposed with that elegant carelessness which distinguishes the heads drawn by the rapid and graceful pencil of the famous Madame Le Brun. She is clothed in a tunic, which, only fastened on the shoulders by a clasp, and gathered round the waist by a narrow band, leaves uncovered her finely formed arms, the shoulders, and part of her beautiful bosom, and although falling in rich folds, yet by its skilful arrangement and adaptation to the person, reveals the charms of her light and elegant figure ; a flowing mantle is gracefully thrown over this, forming, with the tunic, a mass of beautiful drapery, yet disposed with so much art, that the folds of the different dresses are never confused or undistinguishable to the eye"--Albrizzi and Cicognara, loc. cit.

Publication/Creation

[Rome?]

Physical description

1 print : engraving, with etching ; platemark 46 x 33 cm, image ca. 26 x 20 cm

Lettering

The state with letters (impression in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam) has the following lettering: "Leopoldina Esterhazy Lichtenstein. Anch'io tento imitar l'arti del bello. Ant. Canòva inv. e scolpì in marmo di grandezza naturale. G. Tognòli dis. Ang. Bertini inc."

Edition

[State before letters].

References note

Isabella Teotochi Albrizzi and Leopoldo Cicognara, The works of Antonio Canova in sculpture and modelling ... with descriptions from the Italian of the Countess Albrizzi, and a biographical memoir by Count Cicognara, volume 1, London: Septimus Prowett, 1824
Ingeborg Schemper-Sparholz, '"Le désir d'avoir la nature en marbre": Die Sitzstatue der Prinzessin Leopoldine Esterházy-Liechtenstein und das Frauenbild der Frühromantik', Wiener Jahrbuch für Kunstgeschichte, l, 1997, pp. 255-295

Reference

Wellcome Collection 3087368i

Creator/production credits

A pencil inscription on the impression catalogued says "Marchetti incise", attributing the engraving to Domenico Marchetti. Marchetti engraved a print after Canova that was dedicated to Leopoldine von Lichtenstein, the subject of the present print, but the lettering on the finished state of the present print names the engraver as Angelo Bertini instead of Marchetti. The attribution to Marchetti may therefore be either inside information or a mistake

Reproduction note

After a sculpture executed by Canova between 1805 and 1818

Where to find it

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