Antonio Canova Biography

Dromo's Den

CANOVA, Antonio (1757-1822). An eminent Italian sculptor, the founder of the modern classic school. He was born at Possagno in the Province of Treviso, Nov. 1, 1757. His family had been stonecutters for generations, and his grandfather taught him the use of the chisel. The lad's talent attracted the attention of the Venetian Senator Giovanni Falieri, who procured him admission, in his fourteenth year, to the atelier of the sculptor Torretti, who was working in the neighborhood. Canova accompanied the latter to Venice, and after Torretti's death he studied with his nephew Ferrari. He also attended the Venetian Academy of Art, studying especially the nude; but found little to inspire him in the debased Rococo of the day. His progress was rapid, and at the age of 15 he executed for his patron Falieri two statues, "Orpheus" and "Eurydice." His "Dædalus and Icarus," executed in his twenty-second year, and now in the Venetian Academy, was even more famous. While still in the Baroque style, these works show originality, and a careful study of the nude. In 1779, through the influence of Falieri, he received a pension from the Venetian government, entitling him to three years' study in Rome.

He arrived there at a time when the life work of Winckelmann (q.v.) and others was bearing fruit in a new enthusiasm for classical antiquity. Through the influence of the Venetian ambassador he was introduced into literary and artistic circles, where he formed his lifelong friendship with Quatremère de Quincy (q.v.), the celebrated French archaeologist and critic, who exercised great influence upon his art. He threw himself with ardor into the study of the antique, and his "Theseus Vanquishing the Minotaur" showed the fruit of these studies. Exhibited in 1782, it was epoch-making in modern sculpture, as a return from Baroque to classic art. He at once rose to the rank of the first sculptor of his day. A commission for a monument to Pope Clement XIV, in Santi Apostoli, was assigned to him, and on the successful completion of this work, in 1787, he received a commission for a like monument to Pope Clement XIII, Rezzonico, in St. Peter's, completed in 1795-one of his best works. Upon the sarcophagus is a statue of the Pope kneeling in prayer, while on the left is a rather still figure of "Religion," with the cross, and on the right a genius, somewhat effeminate, with the torch of life reversed. Beneath are two splendid lions, the best part of his work.

During this period Canova also executed works of quite a different kind. His famous "Cupid and Psyche" (Louvre), in which the love god, bending over, raises Psyche from the earth, although not without charm, marks what might be called a departure from the antique, because of the constrained position. More attractive is his later representation of the same subject in the Louvre, where Cupid leans confidingly on Psyche's shoulder, watching a butterfly. Among his other famous works executed before 1798 are his "Venus and Adonis," in the Naples Museum, celebrated for the caressing attitude of the goddess and "Hebe Pouring Nectar" (Berlin), a charming specimen of girlish beauty, and different representations of the same subject in the Royal Palace, Munich. He usually executed several replicas of works like these, and those cited are either the original or, failing these, the best-known copy.

In order to show his ability with more virile subjects he carved colossal figures of "Hercules Throwing Lichas into the Sea," now in Palazzo Torlonia, Rome, and of the two Greek boxers, "Creugas and Damoxenos," in the Vatican. Although deemed successful by contemporaries, the exaggerated action of these statues displeases modern critics, notwithstanding the great anatomical knowledge displayed, especially in the inverted figure of Lichas.

While the Pope was expelled from Rome in the revolution of 1798, Canova spent two years traveling in Austria and Germany with Prince Rezzonico. He returned, however, with the new Pope, and soon afterward executed his "Perseus," which was purchased by the Pope, with general applause, and placed upon the empty pedestal of the "Apollo Belvedere," after which it had been modeled, in the Vatican. In 1805 the sculptor was commissioned to execute a substitute for the "Medicean Venus," which, like the Apollo, had been taken to Paris by Napoleon. His "Venus" now stands in the Pitti Palace. The "Three Graces" (St. Petersburg) were executed in rivalry to the antique subject in Siena. Compared with the antique these works seem lacking in simplicity and sentiment; they appear artificial and sentimental, like the age of Canova. Herein lies the importance of Canova as the characteristic. representative of his time. His art is a transition from the Baroque to the purer classical taste of Thorvaldsen and his successors, and his position in the development of modern sculpture is like that of David in painting. He was the first to show the way to what became one of the most important factors in modern sculpture.

Canova was three times summoned to Paris by Napoleon, in 1802, 1805, and 1810. His patriotism would not permit him to accept the Emperor's brilliant inducements to remain in Paris. He pleaded with success for the support of the arts in Italy, but could not induce the Emperor to return the extorted art treasures. He carved the well-known ideal bust of Napoleon in the Pitti Palace and in 1812 he finished a colossal marble statue, in which, according to Roman custom, the Emperor is represented nude, as a god. The original marble is lost, but an excellent bronze cast is in the court of the Brera Palace, Milan. He also represented Napoleon's sister, Pauline Borghese, as a reclining Venus, his mother as Agrippina, the Empress Maria Louisa as Concordia. In 1815, after the fall of Napoleon, he was sent as the Pope's ambassador to Paris, to bring about the return of the art treasures taken from Rome, and it was largely owing to his skill as a diplomat that they were returned. On his return to Rome the Pope made him Marquis of Ischia, the Academy of St. Luke chose him perpetual president, and the Roman Senate inscribed his name in the Golden Book of the Capitol. During his embassy to Paris he visited London and saw the Elgin marbles, but warmly rejected Lord Elgin's proposal to restore them.

One of Canova's most celebrated works was the monument ordered, in 1798, by Albert, Prince of Sachsen-Teschen, for his wife, Marie Christina, Archduchess of Austria, but not completed till 1805, and erected in the church of the Augustines in Vienna. It consists of a marble pyramid, in front of which are two groups of figures. On the left "Virtue," attended by two beautiful maidens, and bearing the cinerary urn, strides towards the door of the pyramid, followed by "Charity," leading a blind old man. On the right recline a lion as guardian of the tomb, and a mourning genius. The composition is more adapted to a painting or relief than to a work of sculpture, and the figures, notwithstanding their beauty, have the effect of artificiality. Among his other sepulchral monuments are that of his friend Volpato, in Santi Apostoli, Rome; of the poet Alfieri, in Santa Croce, Florence; of the last three Stuarts, in St. Peter's, Rome, and of Pius VI a praying figure, in St. Peter's. In these works he appears at his best. Among his classical subjects are an excellent "Paris" (1807) in Munich, "Theseus and the Centaur," in Vienna, and a "Mars and Venus" in London. His famous series of antique dancers are too studied in pose to be pleasing. One of the last works which may be seen in the museum in his native town was the plaster model of George Washington, clad as an antique hero, writing his last message. He seldom treated religious subjects, and when he did he represented them as beautiful, classical figures. The best-known example is a kneeling "Magdalen" in Villa Carlotta, Cadenabbia.

Canova also executed a large number of portrait busts of the celebrities of his day, his friends, and especially of ideal women, as Laura or Beatrice. They are too lacking in individualization to be good portraits. He was unsuccessful in relief work, owing to his inability to make a good composition. As a painter he is of little importance. But in his proper field of sculpture he is one of the most prominent figures of modern times. No one has treated the surface of marble with more delicacy and more skill than he.

Canova died in Venice, Oct. 13, 1822, and was buried at Passagno in a church which he had himself erected at the cost of his earnings of a lifetime. There is also a monument to him, after his own design, in the church of the Frari, Venice, near the tomb of Titian. He was a man of lovable character, kind and charitable, especially to young and needy artists. He was inspired by a lofty patriotism, and by a touching love for his native town, to which he returned whenever possible. His house there contains a museum of his works, with the original plaster models of the most remarkable. His works were engraved by Lasinio (Pisa, 1821-25), Moses (London, 1828), and Reveil (Paris, 1825).

The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. IV (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 475-477.