Historical Figures Codexery

Antonio Canova

Italian Neoclassical sculptor, renowned for marble works and advisor on the Elgin Marbles.

Antonio Canova

Antonio Canova · via Wikipedia: Antonio Canova · Public domain

He is often regarded as the greatest of the Neoclassical artists, with his sculpture inspired by the Baroque and classical revival.[1] Canova died on 13 October 1822 in Venice at age 64, never having married.[2]

Quick Facts

Born
1 November 1757
Birthplace
Possagno, Republic of Venice
Died
13 October 1822
Place of death
Venice, Lombardy–Venetia
Field
Sculpture
Movement
Neoclassicism

Facts from the source article.

Life and work

Canova's father Pietro was a stonecutter, and after his father's death in 1761, his grandfather Pasino, a stonemason, led him into sculpting.[3] Canova arrived in Rome on 28 December 1780, where he studied and sketched the works of Michelangelo.[3] Girolamo Zulian, the Venetian ambassador to Rome, hired Canova in 1781 to sculpt Theseus and the Minotaur, turning rooms of his palace into a studio for the artist.[4] Between 1783 and 1785 Canova designed a funerary monument for Clement XIV, completed in 1787, which secured his reputation as the pre-eminent living artist.[3]

In 1815 Canova was named Minister Plenipotentiary of the Pope and tasked with recovering artworks taken to Paris by Napoleon.[5] By the time he was nine, Canova had already created two small shrines from Carrara marble and, even before turning ten, was making clay models and carving marble.[6] For a two-year period starting in 1770, Canova learned his craft as an apprentice to Giuseppe Bernardi, an artist also referred to as Torretto.[2] The year 1779 saw Canova establish his own workshop, and it was then that Procurator Pietro Vettor Pisani gave him the commission for his initial marble statue, Daedalus and Icarus.[7]

Around the year 1800, Canova held the position of the most renowned artist across Europe, with Napoleon and his relatives being among those who supported him.[8]

What the cited sources add

The Web Gallery of Art biography notes that Canova was called "the supreme minister of beauty" and "a unique and truly divine man" by contemporaries.[9] The wga.hu account states that Canova's Daedalus and Icarus aroused great admiration at the annual art fair in Venice and was commercially successful.[10] For Napoleon as Mars the Peacemaker, Canova traveled to Paris in 1802 to work on a portrait bust, and Napoleon expected to be shown in a French general's uniform, which Canova firmly rejected.[11] The wga.hu entry on Paolina Borghese as Venus Victrix explains that Canova proposed showing her as Diana to lessen the tricky nature of the commission, but she insisted on being portrayed physically naked.[12]

Before being influenced by the English Neoclassicist Gavin Hamilton during trips to Rome, Canova's initial creations showed a late Baroque or Rococo style that appealed to the nobility of his native region.[9] The Web Gallery of Art biography notes that Canova generously used his substantial wealth to assist young artists and direct clients to sculptors who were having financial difficulties.[9]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Antonio Canova" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: .; Jean Martineau & Andrew Robinson, The Glory of Venice: Art in the Eighteenth Century. Yale University Press, 1994. Print. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Antonio Canova" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: .; . (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Antonio Canova" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: . (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Antonio Canova" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Theseus and the Minotaur by CANOVA, Antonio", wga.hu; "La storia del Palazzo di Venezia dalle collezioni Barbo e Grimani a sede dell'ambasciata veneta e austriaca", Gangemi, 2015, p. 60–61; Dandolo, "La caduta della repubblica di Venezia", University of Oxford, 1855, p. 208–211; Dandolo, "La caduta della repubblica di Venezia", University of Oxford, 1855, p. 208–211 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Antonio Canova" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Jean Martineau & Andrew Robinson, The Glory of Venice: Art in the Eighteenth Century. Yale University Press, 1994. Print.; .; Contarini, "Il Canova a Parigi nel 1815", 1891, p. 32 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Antonio Canova" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: .; .; . (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Antonio Canova" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Jean Martineau & Andrew Robinson, The Glory of Venice: Art in the Eighteenth Century. Yale University Press, 1994. Print.; Jean Martineau & Andrew Robinson, The Glory of Venice: Art in the Eighteenth Century. Yale University Press, 1994. Print.; "Daedalus and Icarus by CANOVA, Antonio", wga.hu; Jean Martineau & Andrew Robinson, The Glory of Venice: Art in the Eighteenth Century. Yale University Press, 1994. Print.; "Daedalus and Icarus by CANOVA, Antonio", wga.hu; "Daedalus and Icarus by CANOVA, Antonio", wga.hu (we also read that source en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Antonio Canova" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: .; Oskar Batschmann, The Artist in the Modern World: A Conflict Between Market and Self-Expression. DuMont Bunchverlag, 1997. Print.; Jean Martineau & Andrew Robinson, The Glory of Venice: Art in the Eighteenth Century. Yale University Press, 1994. Print.; . (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  9. "Biography of CANOVA, Antonio in the Web Gallery of Art", wga.hu. facts only, no text reused. wga.hu
  10. "Daedalus and Icarus by CANOVA, Antonio", wga.hu. facts only, no text reused. wga.hu
  11. "Napoleon as Mars the Peacemaker by CANOVA, Antonio", wga.hu. facts only, no text reused. wga.hu
  12. "Paolina Borghese as Venus Victrix by CANOVA, Antonio", wga.hu. facts only, no text reused. wga.hu

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Antonio Canova (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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