Canova's George Washington arrives in Possagno.

On the occasion of the two hundredth anniversary of Antonio Canova ’s creation of the model for the monument to George Washington, the sculpture depicting America’s first president will arrive at the Antonio Canova Gypsotheca and Museum in Possagno from Nov. 11, 2018 to April 18, 2019.

The statue was commissioned from the great artist in 1816 by Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, to be placed in the Parliament House in Raleigh, North Carolina. Canova depicted the “gallant Washington” in the guise of a Roman condottiere in the act of writing his renunciation of his third term as president of the United States.

Unveiled in 1821 in the Capitol in Raleigh, the statue caused great acclaim and awe for its beauty; however, a fire in the Parliament building destroyed the sculpture only a decade later.

The exhibition will display for the first time together the life-size preparatory plaster model, four preparatory models, drawings and translation engravings, as well as two busts depicting Jefferson and Washington by Jean-Antoine Houdon, two painted portraits of the two American presidents, and early ideas for a presidential monument, in order to tell the story of Canova’s lost masterpiece.

The exhibition is curated by Mario Guderzo in collaboration with Xavier F. Salomon.

The work will come directly from New York, following its success at the Frick Collection, where the sculpture was featured in an exhibition from May 22 to September 23, 2018.

For info: www.museocanova.it

Image: Antonio Canova, George Washington. Ph.Credit Fabio Zonta

Canova's George Washington arrives in Possagno.

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