Antonio Canova

Lawrence's portrait of Antonio Canova at the Luigi Bailo Museum in Treviso documents the meeting of the two most celebrated artists working in Europe during the post-Napoleonic period. Canova, whose marble sculptures defined Neoclassical ideals across Europe — his Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss, his Three Graces, and his series of Napoleon-family portraits established him as the sculptor of the age — was at the peak of his international fame when Lawrence painted him during the 1818-19 European tour. The two men's mutual admiration was genuine: Lawrence regarded Canova as the greatest living artist, and Canova's appreciation for Lawrence's portraits — his ability to capture individual character through the atmospheric dissolution of Romantic painting — reflected the sculptor's understanding of how different materials required different approaches to the same fundamental problem of human representation. The Luigi Bailo Museum in Treviso is near Possagno, Canova's birthplace and the location of his temple-mausoleum and museum; the portrait's presence in this regional institution connects the image to the sculptor's native Veneto in a geographically appropriate homecoming.

Lawrence paints his fellow artist with particular sensitivity, the Italian sculptor's elegant features rendered with a warmth that suggests genuine personal admiration. The relatively simple composition allows Canova's face to dominate, the dark background and minimal accessories focusing attention on the sculptor's expressive, intelligent countenance.