24 MARCH 1990, Page 25

Bottom line Sir: Surely `calli-' and not `steatopygous' for Canova's

`Three Graces' who, accord- ing to Robin Simon (Arts, 3 March) `writhe against each other in white marble'.

My Shorter Oxford volunteers the observation that steatopygia tends to be a racial characteristic of Hottentot women. These trim-bottomed nymphs don't quite fit the bill.

G. Gabriel Weinborg

205 West 57th Street, New York N.Y. 10019