The wrestlers; Italy, early 19th century.
Bronze.
Signed Canova.
It has a later ebonised wooden base.
Size: 36 x 35 x 23 cm; 26 x 28 x 17 x 17 cm (base).
This work is inspired by a Hellenistic sculpture from the 3rd century BC, known as the wrestlers, Pancaciastras or Pancrastinae, which is known thanks to a reproduction from the Roman period, which today can be visited in the UfFizi Gallery. The original work was discovered in 1583 in a vineyard belonging to the Tommasini da Gallese family near Rome, was subsequently bought by the Medicci, and eventually became part of the Uffizi Gallery. It depicts two men engaged in combat, one of whom has reduced the other and imprisons his body to the ground by standing on top of him. The piece is notable for the detail of the anatomies, which faithfully follow the design of the original piece, which was the inspiration for many artists, including Michelangelo himself.
The piece bears the signature Canova, perhaps in allusion to the neoclassical painter and sculptor Antonio Canova (Possagno, 1757-Venice, 1822), who was a great admirer of classical sculpture, recovering in his artistic production precepts that were developed in classical antiquity, such as the interest in the canon, proportion and symmetry. He was always from a 19th-century point of view, in which, as in the 16th century, the different disciplines of classical antiquity had been reinterpreted, adapting them to the tastes and circumstances of each period.