Entrepreneur launches campaign to bring Canova's rediscovered Magdalene to Veneto

The Veneto region is mobilizing to bring home the Lying Magdalene, the masterpiece by Antonio Canova (Possagno, 1757 - Venice, 1822) that was thought to be lost and was rediscovered a few weeks ago in England. The work will go up for auction in July, with an estimate of between £5 million and £8 million, and Venetian entrepreneur Paolo Bolognesi of FORTELIMPIDO Consulting in Bassano del Grappa (Vicenza), aware of the work’s importance, and recognizing in the notoriety international notoriety of Canova also a strong element of attractiveness in the field of cultural tourism, intends to invite the best Italian companies and the Veneto Region to cooperate so that the work can be awarded at auction, bringing it to be visible in the Gypsotheca Antonio Canova Museum in Possagno.

The story is rather rocambolic: the current owner had bought the work in 2002 in an auction of garden statues (since such was believed to be the lying Magdalene) for only £5,200. Brought to Christie’s this year for appraisal, it was recognized as the work that was commissioned from Canova by the British prime minister at the time, Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool. Canova expert Mario Guderzo had said, “It is a miracle that an exceptional masterpiece by Canova, long thought to be lost, has been found two hundred years after it was made. This work has been sought by scholars for decades, so the discovery is of fundamental importance for the history of collecting and art history.” It is, moreover, one of the artist’s last known works: the plaster model, preserved precisely in Possagno, is dated September 1819.

The splendid marble statue was given to the British prime minister on November 11, 1822, and when the latter passed away in 1828, it passed to his brother. Despite several ownership changes, the sculpture has always remained in England, although over the years the memory of its author was lost, and by the early decades of the twentieth century no one thought it was a work by Canova anymore. Now, therefore, Bolognesi would like to bring the work back to its birthplace, and he also points out that anyone who donates an amount in order to purchase the work will be able to take advantage of the tax deductions provided by the Art Bonus law. For all information, it is possible to write to the email address dedicated to the campaign, lamaddalenadistesa@gmail.com.

“The discovery of Canova’s Lying Magdalene instantly led me to start a campaign to bring the statue back to Possagno, the sculptor’s hometown,” says Paolo Bolognesi. “Something told me inside: bring back the Lying Magdalene. It has been forgotten for years -- treated like an anonymous statuette in the backyard of a house in the English countryside. I want to give her back her dignity.”

“The attractiveness of a work of exceptional quality, finally rediscovered, and the Italian territory, starting with Possagno, where the Antonio Canova Gypsotheca Museum is located,” the entrepreneur adds, “finds its economic nexus with tourism. The whole world looks at Italy as a country of art, because that is indeed how it is. So here is a good reason to propose to international operators in the cultural and heritage tourism markets, a destination motivated by an important event, just a stone’s throw from Venice. I aim to succeed in combining the divine aspect of the Magdalene, which was understood and eternally consolidated in marble by Canova, with the important financial commitment involved in acquiring the statue at auction. I think that the commitment of public institutions of entrepreneurs and why not of private art lovers, together with proper communication to tour operators can produce the reappearance of Magdalene lying next to the other great works of Antonio Canova exhibited at the Possagno Museum.”

Image: Antonio Canova, Lying Magdalene (1819-1822; marble, 75 x 176 x 84.5 cm)

Entrepreneur launches campaign to bring Canova's rediscovered Magdalene to Veneto

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