Canova's George Washington between Italy and the U.S.

It will take another year for the exhibition that will feature the only sculpture Antonio Canova executed for America, namely the George Washington.

Canova’s George Washington will be an initiative of the highest cultural value to celebrate between Italy and America one of the most famous sculptors in the history of art, according to what Cristiano Corazzari, councillor for culture of the Veneto Region, said during the presentation of the project. An initiative that will be held from May 22 to September 23, 2018 at the Frick Collection in New York and from November 10, 2018 to April 22, 2019 at the Gipsoteca e Museo di Possagno, in the province of Treviso.

Project conceived and realized by Xavier F.Salomon, chief curator of the Frick Collection, in collaboration with Mario Guderzo, director of the Antonio Canova Gipsoteca and Museum.

The statue, which depicted George Washington, the first president of the United States of America, in the guise of a Roman condottiere, was commissioned in 1816 from Antonio Canova by the North Carolina legislature on the recommendation of Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the U.S., as he was convinced that no American sculpture would be able to accomplish this feat. The sculpture was placed in the State House in Raleigh in 1821, but after ten years it was destroyed by fire; the original plaster model that Canova made in 1818 is preserved in the Possagno Gipsoteca and Museum, and will be the most important work in this exhibition along with the preparatory sketches and drawings for it.

Source: press release

Photo Credit.

Canova's George Washington between Italy and the U.S.

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