Canova nella Villa Belvedere

Speranza

When Napoleon carted off classical statues that stood in the arches of the Belvedere courtyard, the pope purchased as replacement

THREE

statues that Antonio Canova had sculped around 1800.

They are his

"PERSEO"

--- holding the severed head of the Medusa (itself inspired by the Apollo del Belvedere) --

and

IL GRUPPO SCULTOREO of two boxers mentioned in the sports pages of antiquity.