Large 19th-century Plaster Cast From A Studio After Canova

Erato, Muse of Dance, or Dancer with Hands on Hips. Large plaster cast from the studio after Antonio Canova. Height 183 cm, original display base 57 cm, total height 2.40 m. Commissioned by Josephine de Beauharnais to adorn the Château de Malmaison, the sculpture of the "Dancer with Hands on Hips," or "Erato," was exhibited at the Salon of 1812, where it was a resounding success. One critic wrote: "The novelty of thought and action in this figure, the charm of life and the illusion of movement, in the most naive of compositions, drew all of Paris as if to a kind of new dramatic performance. I doubt that ever in the theater the most celebrated dancer has gathered such a crowd of admirers, and received so much applause." After the Empress's death, the sculpture was sold to the Emperor of Russia. The work is now kept at the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg.