Bust of Paris 1809 Italy. The enormously popular Neoclassical sculptor Antonio Canova frequently made replicas or variants of his major works to satisfy the demand for his art. While executing a commission from Empress Josephine of France for a full-length statue of Paris (State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg), Canova carved this bust for his friend Antoine QuatremËre de Quincy, a French Neoclassical theorist and critic who greatly inuenced the sculptorís artistic ideals. It depicts the moment in Greek mythology when the shepherd Paris, called upon by Zeus to judge who was the most beautiful among Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite, turns to gaze at the three goddesses. Canova exploited the subject to create an ideal head, balancing the geometry of pure forms with the sensuousness of Parisís expression. Upon receipt of the gift, QuatremËre stated ìThere is in [the bust a mixture of the heroic and the voluptuous, the noble and the amorous. I do not believe that in any other work you have