NINETEENTH CENTURY FRENCH SCHOOL AFTER A MODEL CREATED BEFORE 1800 BY CHRISTOPHE DIHL (1753-1830) OR BY CHARLES-GABRIEL SAUVAGE DIT LEMIRE (1741 -1827) Child drawing White marble Inscribed "CANOVA" on the book Height 43 cm (A broken toe) This work has often been associated with the representation of a child drawing to form a pair in the neo-classical style illustrating the subject of the Study, very fashionable under the Empire and shortly before. Versions are known mainly in biscuit, in an edition from the Dihl and Guérhard manufactory. The first known biscuit model (Münich Rezidenzmuseum) bore an inscription on the shelf, added later in metal letters: Es lebe Karl Theodor, Charles Theodore de Dalberg, last archbishop-elector of Bavaria, and probably its first owner. Here, the inscription has a different significance: the young child writes the name "Canova" in homage to Europe's greatest neo-classical sculptor.