The full-size plaster models that represented the passage from a preliminary designing phase to the production of the marble sculpture were of great significance to Italian sculptor Antonio Canova's creative process. As the subtitle emphasises, the temporal dimension holds great importance in the neoclassic sculptor's creative and productive phases: the plaster artefact posits a before and an after. Before comes the preparatory study; after is the finished work. Plaster stands in between, it is central. The plaster forms are not the finished works, however they contain all their power and potential.

This volume explores this meaningful and little-known phase in the creative process of Antonio Canova, along with quality close-up photo sequences that expose the plaster surfaces, bringing a greater focus and appreciation to the plaster form.