' The Three Graces ' Antonio Canova . ( Italian 1757-1822) carved marble , circa 1814-1817. Victoria and Albert Museum , London.

This marble figure group was made for the Sculpture Gallery at Woburn Abbey , Bedfordshire , and was originally housed in a specially designed Temple of the Graces . It was commissioned from Antonio Canova by John Russell , 6th Duke of Bedford , who visited the sculptor in his studio in Rome in 1814 , and was captivated by the group of the Three Graces which Canova had carved for the Empress Josephine , the estranged wife of Napoleon Bonaparte . She had died in May of that year , and the Duke offered to buy the group from Canava , but Josephine's son claimed it , and that version is now in the Hermitage , St. Petersberg . The Duke commissioned a second version from Canova ; this was begun in 1814 , finished in 1817 , and installed at Woburn in 1819 . Canova came over to England to supervise the installation . In the Temple it was displayed on a pedestal adapted from an earlier marble plinth , with a rotating top . The Three Graces , celebrated in classic literature and art , were the daughters of Jupiter ( or Zeus in Greek mythology ), and companions to the Muses . Thalia (youth and beauty) is accompanied by Euphrosyne (mirth) and Algaia (elegance) The Three Graces was purchased jointly with The National Galleries of Scotland .