Antonio Frilli

As illustrated by Seignac's Young Woman on a Terrace in Pompeii, lot 73, the excavation of ancient archaeological sites initiated a newfound respect and admiration for the arts of classical antiquity. Key treatises on the subject were circulated to a highly receptive public, while museum exhibitions and touring shows enticed visitors with mysterious, never-before-seen artifacts. Amidst more "realistic" figures and studies with classical themes, mythological subject matter began to pervade popular culture. Among the satyrs and nymphs, The Three Graces became one of the most popular motifs, allowing artists and art-lovers to celebrate the lush, sensuous female form. 

The Three Graces-Aglaia, Euphrosyne, and Thalia-individually represent qualities revered by the ancient Greeks: splendor, mirth, and good cheer, respectively. Together, they personified grace and charm, and were expected to entertain and amuse the Olympians. According to Edith Hamilton, the role of the three sisters was simply to delight the gods of Olympus, and merriment and visual pleasure were their principle assets. "They are not treated as separate personalities, but always together, a triple incarnation of beauty and grace...they give life its bloom." (Edith Hamilton, Mythology, 1969, p. 37) It was the poet Hesiod who names the Graces in his Theogony, "then Eurynome, Ocean's fair daughter, bore to Zeus the three graces, all fair-cheeked, Aglaia, Eurphrosyne, and shapely Thalia; their alluring eyes glance from under their brows, and from their eyelids drip desire that unstrings the limbs." Still other stories claim the Graces as the maids of the love goddess Aphrodite. 

In the first half of the 19th century the Neoclassical sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen created his version of The Three Graces, followed by James Pradier's own sensuous rendition. Between 1812-16 the masterful neoclassical sculptor Antonio Canova created The Three Graces for the Empress Josephine and received great critical acclaim. Antonio Frilli was most certainly aware of Canova's work, as the present example is a near copy. Unlike another (perhaps later) version of the subject (Sale, Sotheby’s New York, October 31, 2000, lot 46), here Frilli excludes all artifice from the form, remaining faithful to Canova's Neoclassical ideals. The figures stand side by side facing each other, differently posed from Antique and Renaissance examples (notably Sando Botticelli's Primavera, The Uffizzi Gallery, Florence), where the outer figures turn out toward the viewer and the central figure holds her companions with her back to the viewer. Frilli sensitively connects the three voluptuous female figures, softly carving the hard marble into highly detailed hands, arms, and heads, allowing the Graces to meld nearly into a single form.  It is this interaction of the female figures that connects them with both an Ancient past as well as a modern, sensual sensibility.