Canova's Colossal Horse will return to display after 50 years

After decades of waiting, Antonio Canova ’s Colossal Horse is preparing to return to public display in the Civic Museums of Bassano del Grappa. This monumental work, among the last created by the Possagno sculptor, which remained unfinished after his death, was for more than half a century away from the eyes of the public, relegated to museum storage. Now, thanks to a restoration project supported by the City of Bassano del Grappa and important institutional and private partners, namely the Regional Secretariat of the Ministry of Culture for the Veneto and the Soprintendenza Archeologia Belle Arti e Paesaggio for the provinces of Verona, Rovigo and Vicenza, main partner Intesa Sanpaolo and main sponsor Venice in Peril Fund, the masterpiece will finally be recovered and exhibited again.

The restoration operation is not only an action of artistic recovery, but an event of relevant importance for the enhancement of Canova’s heritage. The sculpture, a symbol of Canova’s mastery in representing the power and elegance of the horse, will once again occupy a central place in the museum’s halls, returning one of the artist’s most impressive and fascinating works to visitors.

“We are happy to officially start the implementation phase of this important project to restore one of the most relevant artistic treasures of our city, a city whose history is deeply linked to Canova’s genius as the custodian, together with Possagno, of the most important Canova heritage in the world,” says Bassano del Grappa Mayor Nicola Ignazio Finco. “An ambitious project made possible thanks to the attention of the Ministry of Culture, which I thank, and the close collaboration between the public and private sectors, which is increasingly strategic in order to support and enhance the world of culture. Thanks, therefore, to Intesa Sanpaolo and Venice in Peril Fund, which have believed in this operation, contributing to the recomposition of a work of undoubted value, which has been neglected for too long, and which will be able to return to be admired and appreciated by visitors to our museum and by the many fans of Antonio Canova’s genius around the world.”

An unfinished masterpiece by the last Canova

The Colossal Horse was created by Antonio Canova between 1819 and 1821 as a preparatory model for a large bronze equestrian sculpture commissioned by the King of Naples, Ferdinand I of Bourbon. However, the project was never completed: the artist’s sudden death in October 1822 left the work unfinished, with only the figure of the animal completed.

After the sculptor’s death, the plaster model was moved to Canova’s Roman studio on Via delle Colonnette, along with his other works. Later, the artist’s half-brother, Giambattista Sartori Canova, donated the sculpture to the Civic Museums of Bassano del Grappa, where it found a place in Canova’s salon. The imposing work, characterized by a faux bronze surface coloring desired by Canova himself, was displayed for years in dialogue with another equestrian model, the one dedicated to Charles III of Bourbon, which was almost completely destroyed in the 1945 bombings.

Despite its artistic and historical value, the Colossal Horse was removed from the exhibition hall in the late 1960s, when it was decided to undertake structural work in the museum spaces. The museum’s then director, Bruno Passamani, opted to move the work to storage, with the idea of relocating it later to a more suitable location.

To facilitate its transportation, the sculpture was dissected into several parts, with the intention of reassembling it at a later date. However, this intention never materialized, and the numerous fragments of the work underwent several displacements over time, becoming further damaged. Only the horse’s head was preserved and kept in the exhibition route, as a testimony to the value of the monumental plaster. For decades, therefore, the public has not seen this work.

The restoration project and its importance

Today, the restoration project represents a crucial intervention in the rediscovery and protection of the Colossal Horse. The plan, financed with a total investment of €340,500 (of which €197,444.52 for executive design and works and €143,055.48 for sums at the disposal of the Municipal Administration), is promoted by the City of Bassano del Grappa and the Civic Museums, with the support of the Regional Secretariat of the Ministry of Culture for the Veneto and the Soprintendenza Archeologia Belle Arti e Paesaggio. The main financial contribution comes from Intesa Sanpaolo’s Restituzioni program, which has supported the recovery of important Italian works of art since 1989. Now in its 20th year, the program benefits from the scientific curatorship of Carlo Bertelli (since 2000 and now curator emeritus), Giorgio Bonsanti (since 2013) and Carla Di Francesco (since 2019). In 36 years of activity, the program has made it possible to restore 2,200 works that now make up a kind of ideal museum from antiquity to the present day, with works not only of painting and sculpture but also archaeological finds, jewelry and much more.

“The Superintendency of Verona has been involved in this important project from the very beginning, to study its criticalities and opportunities for intervention, in an always constant dialogue with the Bassano museum institution,” explains Superintendent Andrea Rosignoli. “For this worthy intervention of recovery of a unique Canova work, we will be engaged not only in the exercise of high supervision to the works but, thanks to the collaboration of the Regional Secretariat for Veneto, the Ministry of Culture will guarantee its support to the enterprise with a capital contribution.”

“Protecting Italy’s artistic heritage is for Intesa Sanpaolo an inalienable commitment that led to the creation, thirty-six years ago, of the world’s most important restoration program, carried out in close dialogue with the Ministry of Culture,” says Michele Coppola, Executive Director Art, Culture and Historical Heritage of Intesa Sanpaolo. "Restitutions could not miss today’s appointment with Antonio Canova’s spectacular Colossal Horse, to give new life, thanks to the work of restorers, to the great artist’s imposing sculpture, which will also be welcomed to our Gallerie d’Italia in Milan for the upcoming fall exhibition. We believe it is our duty to contribute, alongside the competent Superintendency and the Civic Museums of Bassano, together with Venice in Peril Fund, to the restitution of a precious masterpiece of art of the Venetian heritage and of the country’s identity."

The work was entrusted to the firm Passarella Restauri of Padua and the firm R.S. Ingegneria. The Passarella firm, founded in Padua in 1978 by Giordano Passarella, has special experience on the Canova heritage: in the past, Passarella restored, for example, the plaster cast of George Washington from the Museo Gypsotheca Antonio Canova in Possagno on the occasion of the exhibition dedicated to the work that was held at the Frick Collection in New York, and then again he oversaw the restoration of the Canova plaster casts kept in the salon of Palazzo Papafava in Padua, refurbished the Canova terracotta sketches brought to the exhibition at the National Galleries of Art in Washington and the Art Institute of Chicago, and then, in 2021, reassembled the plaster cast of Antonio Canova’s Hebe kept precisely at the Museo Civico di Bassano del Grappa.

The restoration will not be limited to simply reassembling the fragments, but will include an advanced digitization phase of the work: each element will be scanned in 3D to recreate a virtual reconstruction, which will serve as the basis for the physical restoration of the sculpture. Technological innovation will be a key element of the restoration. The first step will be the consolidation of the existing fragments, which will then be reassembled with the support of a new supporting structure. This will be designed using modern materials but compatible with the original, ensuring the stability of the work and facilitating its future maintenance.

“The design and execution complexity of the intervention is rich in stimuli and of particular interest to us,” says restorer Giordano Passarella of Passarella Restauri Srl. “The fragility of the work, together with its artistic, historical and documentary value, is for us a reason for commitment and a unique professional challenge.”

Special attention will be paid to the painted plaster surface, which will undergo a delicate process of cleaning and consolidation. The faux-bronze color, applied by Canova himself, will be preserved with targeted restoration work to restore the sculpture to its original appearance without altering its authenticity.

“The project to restore and recompose Canova’s colossal horse,” points out Barbara Guidi, director of the Civic Museums of Bassano del Grappa, “will not only allow one of the most valuable of Bassano’s collections but, because of the complexity of the operations and the innovative nature of the methodologies applied to a plaster structure of this size, it represents one of the most spectacular and relevant interventions of recovery of the Italian artistic heritage in recent years.”

Venice in Peril Fund and the enhancement of restoration

A key partner in the project is the Venice in Peril Fund, the British charity founded in 1966 to protect the artistic heritage of the Veneto region. The charity, in addition to contributing financially to the restoration, will be responsible for documenting the intervention, with the creation of a video reportage that will follow all phases of the recovery.

“This project represents an important step for Venice in Peril Fund, which is about to carry out its first intervention in the mainland,” says Anthony Roberts, Vice President Venice in Peril Fund. “Canova has special significance for our institution, which had the honor of restoring the monument dedicated to him in the Basilica dei Frari in Venice. This initiative also provides an opportunity to attract international funding, contributing to the protection of a heritage that is part of our shared history.”

The documentary, which will be broadcast on the digital channels of the City of Bassano del Grappa and the Civic Museums, will offer the public a unique opportunity to discover the complex restoration work and to learn more about the history of the work. In addition, two live streams are planned on www.museibassano.it, during which users will be able to watch highlights of the recovery.

The work’s return to the halls of the Civic Museum represents an important step forward in the rediscovery of Canova’s heritage and will help enhance the artistic legacy of one of Italy’s greatest sculptors.

Thanks to collaboration between public and private institutions, the Colossal Horse will return to enchant scholars, enthusiasts and visitors from around the world. After more than 50 years of absence, Antonio Canova’s lost masterpiece is truly ready to shine.

Canova's Colossal Horse will return to display after 50 years

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