Image: Pinckney Marcius-Simons, The Child Canova Modeling a Lion Out of Butter, c 1885

Description: Pinckney Marcius-Simons, The Child Canova Modeling a Lion Out of Butter, c. 1885, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA (acquired 2014; previously in the collection of Robert Isaacson and James Draper and exhibited in 2014 at the Shepherd/W & K Galleries, New York, cat. no. 44[1]); oil on canvas, 23.75 x 29 inches. Depicts a fabled scene from the 1760s, where preparations for a feast are underway in the kitchen of an Italian palace. One of the servants, a 10-year-old boy, has volunteered to carve a butter sculpture of a lion as the centerpiece for the banquet table. The cooks marvel at his lifelike creation, clearly the work of a child prodigy. This little artist grew up to be the world's leading sculptor, Antonio Canova (1757-1822). See also Christina Ferando, "Maidservant as muse: The dramatic reinvention of Antonio Canova," Journal of Art Historiography, 3 (Dec. 2010), p. 10.[2]
Title: Pinckney Marcius-Simons, The Child Canova Modeling a Lion Out of Butter, c 1885
Credit: https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/the-child-canova-modeling-a-lion-out-of-butterpinckney-marcius-pinckney-marcius-simons/6QGAULCOExXSiw
Author: Pinckney Marcius-Simons
Usage Terms: Public domain
License: Public domain
Attribution Required?: No