Canova travelled to England to supervise its installation, choosing to display it on a pedestal adapted from a marble plinth with a rotating top.

This item is now owned jointly by the Victoria and Albert Museum and the National Galleries of Scotland, and is alternately displayed at each.

The Woburn Abbey version is carved from white marble and has a round pillar, and the central figure (Aglaea) has a slightly broader waist.

Born in the Italian province of Treviso in 1757, he was educated by his grandfather and his artistic talent was quickly noticed, especially by a senator, Giovanni Falieri, who introduced him to the sculptor Torretto.

Canova went on to enjoy small commissions, but his fame did not come until 1780 when he traveled to Rome and found himself inspired and invigorated by the scope and quality of the art and architecture.

The fact that these pieces represented only a fraction of his works during this period make his dual commissions to sculpt the Graces understandable.

This was a trademark of the artist, and the piece shows a strong allegiance to the Neo-Classical movement in sculpture, of which Canova is the prime exponent.

In Countess Josephine's version, the Graces are on a sacrificial altar adorned with three wreaths of flowers and a garland symbolizing their fragile, close ties.

Canova's work challenged the baroque conception of opulent beauty; he shows the Graces as nubile, svelte young women.

His pieces do not seem to possess any real sense of time, they merely exist at a point in the past — almost ghostly reminders of a mythological happening or person long deceased.