Antonio Canova

Antonio Canova, a stonecutter's son from Possagno, learned to carve in his grandfather's workshop and trained in Venice before settling in Rome in 1781. His marbles, from Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss to Pauline Borghese as Venus, gave Neoclassicism its softest, most polished surfaces. He was the most celebrated sculptor in Europe, working for popes and for Napoleon. After Napoleon's fall he went to Paris as papal envoy and recovered many works of art taken from Italy.