The comparison with Canova’s portrait, known through the preparatory plaster preserved at the Gipsoteca Canoviana in Possagno, not only allows to identify the subject depicted, but also to hazard a possible dating of the canvas in question to around 1812-1814. A series of considerations confirm the attribution of the latter to Pietro Benvenuti, a lifelong friend of Canova and no stranger to the story of the bust. After Canova’s wonderful Venus Italica was placed in the Tribune of the Uffizi on April 29, 1812 “amid public enthusiasm”, the Grand Duchess Elisa, called to remit payment (albeit not too happily) for the masterpiece, requested from the sculptor ten years earlier by her predecessor Charles Louis, wished to make a personal request to Canova, commissioning him to produce a portrait bust and a whole figure which represented her in the guise of the muse Polyhymnia.

 

Almost at the same time the Grand Duchess had commissioned Benvenuti to do a painting depicting the moment when Canova was presenting the portrait. The large canvas with Elisa Baciocchi and her Court, today in Versailles (Fig.3), was to eternalize the event and represents Canova standing, flanked by Felice Baciocci, wife of the sovereign and surrounded by the greatest personalities of Florentine culture, including Benvenuti.

The bust, now missing, was modelled in the spring of 1812 in Florence, while the marble version was completed in January 1814 and then sent from Rome. Between the plaster and the painting, both characterized by a strong naturalism, the similarity is evident in the marked features of Elisa, caught by Benvenuti in her mature years, if we recall that her death took place in 1820. The high forehead framed by curls according to the fashion of the time, the rather large eyes, the thin lips, the pronounced chin with the cleft in the middle, the straight nose and the dimples at the side of the mouth. The dating is also confirmed by the white dress worn, which is clearly datable to around 1814-1818, also by the woollen shawl, resting on her left arm. Stylistically the canvas in question is comparable to female portraits executed by Benvenuti in the same years or in those immediately following, such as that of Princess Antonietta Corsini (private collection) (Fig.4), signed and dated 1812, or that of a woman (Fig.5) (private collection) dated 1818 or another, the second executed for her, of Maria Theresa of Austria (Turin, Palazzo Reale) (Fig.6). There are numerous half-length portraits, as well as full-length and three-quarter ones, reported by biographers, in many cases not traced. Benvenuti used to frequent Bagni di Lucca, producing many portraits in situ.

 Fig. 4

 Fig. 5

  Fig. 6