Dancer with Finger on Chin

Antonio Canova

National Gallery of Art

Carved from white marble, a woman balances on the ball of one foot as she holds one finger to her chin in this freestanding sculpture. The woman’s body faces us in this view, but she tips her head down and to our left and she looks in that direction. Ringlets frame her round face, and the corners of her mouth pull back in a slight smile. Her right elbow, to our left, is bent so she can delicately touch her chin with that pointer finger. The back of her other hand is braced against her hip, and a ring of flowers hangs from that forearm. Fabric is gathered over her shoulders, belted under her bust, and falls in delicate folds to her ankles. The woman is barefoot as she lifts one foot and crosses that ankle in front of the standing leg. Perched on the balls of that second foot, the weight of the sculpture is supported by a column behind the woman. She stands on a disk-like, round base on a pedestal made of polished parchment-brown marble. The sculpture is photographed in front of a gray background.