# The Three Graces Dancing [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [CANOVA, Antonio]() - Date: 1751-1800 - Technique: Tempera on paper ## Commentary Canova mentioned "various ideas on dances, the play between nymphs and cupids, muses, philosophers, etc., sketched exclusively for the artist's own study and enjoyment." There is little doubt he was referring to the tempera cycle at Possagno and similar sketches now in Bassano. Picking up the themes and techniques discovered in Herculaneum, Canova created brightly coloured mythological figures that stand out against the black background. These sketches are the forerunners of themes and figures he would later sculpt. The picture shows a detail from a frieze. <p> <table align=left cellpadding=5 border=1 width=320 bgcolor="\#99cccc"> <tr valign=middle><td><img src="/support/gif/listen.gif" border=0 valign=middle> Suggested listening \(streaming mp3, 4 minutes\):<br><a href="\#" onClick="w=window.open \('/music1/19\_cent/rossini\_la\_danza.html', 'newWin', 'scrollbars=yes,status=no,dependent=yes,screenX=0,screenY=0,width=350,height=350'\);w.opener=this;w.focus\(\);return true"><b>Gioacchino Rossini: La Danza</b></a> </td></tr></table> ## Related artworks - [Bust of Napoleon Bonaparte]() - [Cupid and Psyche \(detail\)]() - [Cupid and Psyche \(detail\)]() - [Cupid and Psyche]() - [Cupid and Psyche]() - [Cupid and Psyche]() - [Cupid and Psyche]() - [Daedalus and Icarus]() - [Daedalus and Icarus]() - [Eurydice]() - [Feed the Hungry]() - [Funerary Monument of Francesco Pesaro \(model\)]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()