Apollo, the Graces and the Muses

This drawing and its counterpart, C707, are preparatory works for a relief. The commission was given in 1813 by Napoleon’s sister, Elisa, and was for her summer residence near Livorno. Thorvaldsen found the model in an album in his own book collection, G.A. Guattani’s Memorie enciclopediche sulle Belle Arti, Antichità ec. (1809). The pencil drawing was a first stage on the way to a more thoroughly prepared variant in inks.