Mid-19th Hebe Impressive Neoclassical Marble Sculpture

Impressive neoclassical marble sculpture depicting Hebe, Italian school of the mid-19th century.

The work depicts the goddess Hebe, daughter of Zeus and Hera and handmaiden and cupbearer of the gods of Olympus. Hebe is depicted as she walks with a light step, almost like a dancer, immersed in a reverent and silent attitude. Suspended on a cloud, the goddess has a refined hairstyle gathered in a diadem and moved by a breath of wind; her torso is naked, while the lower part of the body is draped in a cloth that, with its thick and complex folds, enhances her sinuous body.

The original work was executed by Canova in four versions between 1796 and 1817, including one specifically requested by Giuseppina Beauharnais, Napoleon’s first wife; exhibited in the Paris Salon in 1808, the work became part of the Russian imperial collections in 1815, and today it is exhibited at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg.

Our sculpture was born in the wake of the success of the Canova model, which led wealthy clients to request a copy for their residences. It is still a mid-nineteenth-century model, of considerable size and great sculptural quality.

Very good state of preservation.

Measurements
H 88 cm
Base: W cm 26 D cm 30