born , Nov. 1, 1757, Possagno, Republic of Venice
died Oct. 13, 1822, Venice
Italian sculptor.
Apprenticed to a sculptor at an early age, he opened his own studio in Venice by 1775. In 1778–79 he produced his first important sculpture, Daedalus and Icarus ; the figures were so realistic that he was accused of making plaster casts from live models. He settled in Rome in 1779 and became strongly influenced by Classical antiquity. Among his most important commissions were the tombs of two popes, Clement XIII and Clement XIV. In 1802 he became court sculptor to Napoleon I in Paris. In 1816 Pope Pius VII awarded him the title of marquis of Ischia for arranging the return of Italian art looted by the French. Canova also painted portraits and re-creations of paintings discovered at Pompeii and Herculaneum . He dominated European sculpture around the turn of the century and was of primary importance in the development of the Neoclassical style in sculpture (see Classicism and Neoclassicism ).