The Child Canova Modeling a Lion Out of ButterPinckney Marcius

This painting takes us back to a fabled scene from the 1760s, where preparations for a feast are underway in the kitchen of an Italian palace. One of the servants, a 10-year-old boy, has volunteered to carve a butter sculpture of a lion as the centerpiece for the banquet table. The cooks marvel at his lifelike creation, clearly the work of a child prodigy. This little artist grew up to be the world's leading sculptor, Antonio Canova (1757-1822), and his statues of warriors, nymphs, and lions inspired Hiram Powers, William Henry Rinehart, and dozens of later artists to study marble-carving and embrace the Neoclassical style.

2014.14