Tomb of Duchess Maria Christina of Saxony-Teschen
by CANOVA, Antonio, Carrara marble, height 574 cm
Duchess Maria Christina was the daughter of the Empress Maria Theresia. Designed between 1790 and 1795 as a monument to Titian, the execution of the tomb was no longer possible after the occupation of Venice by the French in 1797. The reallocation of a memorial monument to a different dead person - hitherto hardly conceivable - only became feasible because it was its artistic quality which came first. It was produced before the purchaser had attributed a specific meaning to it.