A celebration of the iconic figure of Helen of Troy, the Bust of Helen, a marble masterpiece created between 1816 and 1817 by neoclassical sculpture master Antonio Canova, will be the absolute star of a Christie's auction scheduled for July 6. The work, which has an estimate of 4 million euros, had been donated by Canova more than 200 years ago to Viscount Castlereagh, a British politician and statesman, in recognition of the lord's efforts to secure the return of works of art to Italy at the end of the Napoleonic Wars; the bust subsequently passed by descent to its current owners, the Trustees of The Londonderry Heirlooms Settlement. Having been exhibited only twice - the last time more than 25 years ago at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, and previously at the Royal Academy of Arts, London - the bust is currently on view in Hong Kong - until May 28- and will be in New York from June 10-14, before returning to London.
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