Antonio Canova (style of) (Possagno 1757-Venezia 1822), The Boxers

19th century

Bronze with dark patina 24 x 15 x 7cm; 26 x 15 x 7 cm

This pair of bronzes is taken after Canova's sculptures now in the Belvedere courtyard of the Vatican Museums created by Pio VII.  The two boxers represented are Creugante and Damoxenus, two athletes who fought in the Nenean Games. Pope Pius VII purchased the first boxer directly from Canova and commissioned the second boxer to complete the pair.


The plaster casts are now in the Possagno Plaster Cast Gallery and some copies were made and sent across Europe. The two bronzes in question are revisited copies of the two boxers, missing in fact the trunks that gave stability to the two marble sculptures and present other minimal differences in detail. They are good quality 19th-century castings in the Grand Tour taste.