Antonio Canova - The Seven Last
Works
The greatest of all Neoclassical sculptors
remains famous above all for the elegant nude
mythological subjects that he carved exquisitely in marble. He also worked in a
deeply serious, deceptively simple style. This less familiar Canova is revealed
in an extraordinary series of full-scale plaster models illustrating episodes
from the Old and New Testaments. Such models, used to review his compositions
before they were transferred into stone, were a distinctive feature of his
sculptural practice. These Biblical scenes were made in connection with a project
for thirty-two low reliefs that were to adorn the Tempio Canoviano, the church
he built for his home town Possagno, which later became the artist's mausoleum.
He completed only seven models before his death.
Six of the reliefs come from the Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice, and one from the Gipsoteca in Possagno. Newly restored, they will be lent for the first time to the United States. (22.01.2014 – 27.04.2014). Drawing inspiration from ancient sculpture and early Renaissance masters, the models are striking for the marked linearity of the figures, arranged in brilliantly syncopated compositions. They constitute Canova's last, profoundly moving masterworks. (Text: Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Six of the reliefs come from the Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice, and one from the Gipsoteca in Possagno. Newly restored, they will be lent for the first time to the United States. (22.01.2014 – 27.04.2014). Drawing inspiration from ancient sculpture and early Renaissance masters, the models are striking for the marked linearity of the figures, arranged in brilliantly syncopated compositions. They constitute Canova's last, profoundly moving masterworks. (Text: Metropolitan Museum of Art)