Lot 244: Pietro Canonica , Italian 1869-1959 dopo il voto (after the vows) gilt-bronze and ivory, grey granite base

signed P Canonica gilt-bronze and ivory, grey granite base

measurements height 13 1/2 in. alternate measurements 34.5 cm

Pietro Canonica exhibited a bronze of his Dopo il voto at the Paris Salon of 1893 when he was only 24. As Vicario writes the model depicts a nun "who laments the earthly joys she has renounced with her vows." Canonica's nun leans against a wrought iron fence and seems to breathe a sigh in her reverie. The subject is contemporary and Canonica' s nun seems quite modern with her informal pose as the artist conveys the twist of her body through the heavy folds of her habit. The subject is both humorous and poignant and the bronze was vastly admired at the Salon and the bronze was bought by the artist and dealer, Adolphe Goupil and Canonica received an honourable mention.

Canonica went on to become one of the most successful and distinctive Italian sculptors of his generation. He studied from 1881 at the Accademia Abertina in Turin under the sculptor Odoardo Tabacchi before setting up his own studio. Canonica's fame grew and his prodigious talents were put to use on monuments in Rome, St Petersburg, Istanbul and Bagdad. He was also one of the most sought-after portraitists amongst the international beau-monde creating likenesses of famous artists and politicians as well as crowned heads of Europe. His portraits of the British Royal family were exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1904.

Canonica settled in Rome where he was director of the Accademia di Belle Arti. His house was transformed into the Museo Canonica after his death and a great number of his works are preserved there. A cast of the present model is in the Galleria dell'Arte Moderna, Turin.