The neoclassical sculptor Antonio Canova (1757-1822) had a lifelong passion for dance. During his early years in Rome, he would often go walking in the hills around the city, or wander through the streets and squares of Trastevere so that he could see the peasant girls dancing. As his friend Antonio d’Este later remembered, he was enchanted by their delighted laughter, joyful innocence and graceful movements. Pulling out his sketchbook, he would make drawing after drawing, before rushing back to his studio to try to reproduce what he had seen, first in terracotta and then in marble.