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April’s Museum Bum of the Month – “Naiad” by Antonio Canova, at the National Gallery of Art

Posted on 8th May, 2023

In April our most popular bum on twitter was Antonio Canova’s “Naiad”, created between 1815 and 1823.

This derriere-y demi-god was bought from Canova’s studio shortly after the sculptor’s death in 1822, by the 3rd Marquess of Londonderry and became part of the marble collection at Londonderry House for 139 years, until an estate sale took her to New York in 1963. In 2003 she was part of a bequest to the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, which is where we find her relaxing today.

Reclining deities were clearly a popular topic for Canova, because this one has similar siblings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Buckingham Palace in London, and an original plaster model resides at the Gipsoteca di Possagno in Treviso, Italy.

We like her because she’s chilling out, maxing and relaxing.