Antonio Canova, 1757-1822, was Venetian who became the most famous neo-Classical sculptor in Europe. He lived in Rome from 1781, and was curator of works of art to the Pope from 1802. He had commissions from Vienna and Paris, from George III for a monument to the Stuarts and from North Carolina for a Washington. His work was highly finished but he made use of mechanical processes for translating plaster models into stone.
His 'soft 'style was attacked by some, particularly in Germany, and Waagen, the first Director of the Berlin Gallery, wrote of his Sleeping Endymion at Chatsworth:
The Duke [of Devonshire], like most Englishmen who are fond of the arts, is a great admirer of Canova... The representation of a figure in profound repose was particularly adapted to this sculptor's talent, who produced accordingly a work of the utmost and of the highest finish of surface; the over-polish, however, strikes the eye disagreeably, and is quite at variance with the appearance of flesh. ( Waagen, Treasures of Art in Great Britain, Volume III, p. 365)
Ruskin, unusually, found himself in agreement with the Germans (see Ruskin and Modern German art). At Works, 9.260 Ruskin comments: 'The admiration of Canova I hold to be one of the most deadly symptoms in the civilization of the upper classes.'
The definition of 'classical' at Works, 7.315 though not explicitly referring to Canova seems to summarise Ruskin 's view of Canova's work.