Even though both Canova and Rodin were from completely different stylistic periods, they both shared somewhat similar views and influences. "Canova and Rodin are probably the only two sculptors of the nineteenth century who escaped the strictures of an epoch that looked on human life as a succession of events whose banality overwhelms all that is potentially beautiful in existence". Both artist seem to have a deep admiration towards the human body especially the nude body.
The Italian Neoclassical sculptor Antonio Canova was born in 1757. He was born into a family of stonemasons near Venice. He traveled to Naples, Pompeii and Herculaneum where he got a chance to study the Greco-Roman art. His international fame allowed him commissions by such people as Emperor Francis II of Austria, Napoleon and a great many others. Despite his fame aboard, most of Canova's work was commissioned by the Pope. He served as a representative of the Pope in France. He was task with persuading the French government to give back many of the works that had been stolen from the Vatican during the war. He successfully completed his job and even got back Apollo Belvedere, which the Vatican had replaced with Canova's Perseus with Head of Medusa.
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