Portyrait of Antonio Canova

After being in Paris, in the autumn of 1815, on behalf of Pius VII to recover most of the works that were stolen from Italy after the Peace of Tolentino, Canova went to England, to London, to confirm the authenticity of the marbles from the Parthenon.
After issuing the famous judgment of authenticity ("this is real meat", he said about the bas-reliefs attributing them to Phidias), Canova accompanied by his brother Giovanni Battista Sartori, was invited to the royal banquet at the court of George IV. On that occasion (it was Monday, December 4, 1815), Thomas Lawrence (Bristol, 1769- London, 1830) outlined the portrait that he gave to Canova in 1819, during his trip to Rome. The work created by the court painter shows the sculptor in a different light than the previous depictions: he represents Canova with much more simplicity and characterizes his face proudly by painting it in profile. This casual posture ideally heroizes the subject. Lawrence managed to focus on the expressive gaze all his genius, representing the master as faithfully as possible. Lawrence painted the portrait in a single session and exhibited it at the Academy in 1816.