The exhibition is organized by Intesa Sanpaolo in partnership with the PSAE Special Superintendence and for the Museum pole of the city of Veniceae of the municipalities of the lagoon edge and in collaboration with the Cariplo Foundation.
The recent restoration of six plaster bas-reliefs kept in the Gallerie dell'Venice Academy, inspired by episodes from the Old and New Testaments, and the study of the documents relating to them have brought to light works of great historical value. In fact, the original models for the first of the thirty-two metopes have been identified in the restored works - the decorative panels intended to punctuate the Doric frieze - which Antonio Canova, modern Phidias, intended to build for the pronaos of the Temple of his native Possagno, the majestic building designed by himself inspired by the architecture of the Parthenon and the Pantheon.
The sculptor began working on the models of the metopes in December 1821; by early April 1822 seven had been executed, immediately sent from the Rome studio to the Venice Academy, so that as many sculptors, chosen from among the best students of the Academy itself, would begin to create the marble version. Death, which occurred on October 13, 1822, prevented the sculptor from completing the project. Together with the six bas-reliefs of the Temple, seven preparatory drawings are on display, coming from Civic Museum of Bassano del Grappa, in close relation to the metopes themselves, which testify to Canova's constant interest in biblical and Christian themes, as well as his study of the "Primitives".
The exhibition is completed by two specimens, coming from Braidense Library, of the Illustrated Atlas of the History of Sculpture (1813–1818 and 1822–1824) by Leopoldo Cicognara, art historian and friend of Canova: an important source that allows us to better contextualize the comparison with the Middle Ages and the early Renaissance. One of the seven models of the metopes, unfortunately lost, is represented in the exhibition by the bas-relief from the Antonio Canova Gipsoteca in Possagno, belonging to a series performed by followers of the Master's work.
The exhibition finds an ideal location in the rooms of the section "From Canova to Boccioni"The Galleries of Piazza Scala, in which the Rezzonico bas-reliefs of Cariplo Foundation Collection. This collocation permits a direct comparison – within Canova's works with the plaster bas-relief technique – between the youthful production of the last decade of the eighteenth century, inspired by classical antiquity, and works created before his death.
Also today, at 18.30 in the Salone Mattioli of the Gallerie di Piazza Scala, there is a program entitled "Canova and the dance. Meeting between dance and sculpture”, the first of a series of three conferences of the cycle “To many voices – Art, dance and music in the 800th century”, dedicated to the deepening of some works conserved in the Galleries.
During the meeting, Marinella Guatterini, dance historian, and Francesco Leone, art historian, will reflect on dance in Canova's work "The dance of the children of Alcinoo" in relation to that of the end of the 700th century - beginning of the 800th century, with an accompaniment performed by young dancers from the Accademia Teatro alla Scala.
The cycle, born from the collaboration between Intesa Sanpaolo, Teatro alla Scala and Accademia Teatro alla Scala, will continue with meetings on the contamination between painting and the world of music on 17 and 24 October next.
Open to the public in the Milanese venue until 6 January 2014, the exhibition will be hosted at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York from 20 January to 27 April 2014.
