ITALIAN, EARLY 19TH CENTURY, AFTER THE ANTIQUE | SEATED AGRIPPINA

This crisply carved marble is a fine Grand Tour reduction of the celebrated Roman Imperial statue from the Farnese Collection, now housed in the National Archaeological Museum in Naples. Known since at least the 17th century and traditionally referred to as Agrippina, the Naples statue is now thought to post-date the 1st century, while a similar marble in the Capitoline Museums in Rome is today said to represent Helena, mother of Constantine, and therefore dated to the 4th century C.E.. The latter model served as inspiration for Canova's portrait of Napoleon's mother at Chatsworth.

RELATED LITERATURE

F. Haskell and N. Penny, Taste and the Antique: The Lure of Classical Sculpture 1500-1900, New Haven and London, 1981, pp. 132-134, no. 1