After 200 years, the “Ideal of Peace (Bust of Peace)”, the bust of a woman, which Antonio Canova sculpted in 1814 in a single block of white marble for his friend John Campbell, has returned to life throughout the its elegant beauty and executive perfection, which will be offered on 4 July in London by Sotheby’s.
The sculpture belonging to the famous Canova series of “Ideal Heads” was donated by the artist to Lord Cawdor, for his help in the precious work of repatriation of Italian art plundered by the French armies during the Napoleonic wars.
The “Bust of Peace” to be auctioned has been handed down for five generations of the Cawdor family after the death of John Campbell in 1821, passing from hand to hand; but over time the identity of the author has been lost.
Although they remained under their noses, Canova’s genius did not appear in the eyes of his heirs to the point that in 1962, when the assets of the Stackpole Court house in Pembrokshire were auctioned, the “Bust of Peace” was simply described in the catalog. as “a white marble bust of a lady wearing a diadem”.
The current owner who bought the work in 1962 wondered who had carved this incomparable bust and only after a long search the sculpture was returned to Canova’s chisel.
On 4 July, the work will be presented in London by Sotheby’s with a wait for realization by the UK auction house of 1 million pounds.