Fondazione Canova, Beauty as a Mission Fondazione Canova Fondazione Canova onlus is the non-proft cultural organisation that manages and promotes Canova’s great heritage in Possagno. Conceived by the mid-19 century by Giovanni Battista Sartori, Antonio Canova’s brother, Fondazione Canova has been able to put forth, during its two-century life, one of the frst great Italian art collections: it is the Gipsoteca, which collects all the original models created by Canova himself in his atelier in Rome in order to have them reproduced in marble in his workshop. This extraordinary collection of models, arranged in the evocative scenery of the basilica built by the Venetian architect Francesco Lazzari (1836) and in the pavilion brilliantly designed by Carlo Scarpa (1957), allows not only admiring a vast array of absolute masterpieces, but also understanding the complex and rich path of Canova’s invention and acquaintances, as well as the Italian and European customers who appreciated, sought and bought his many artworks. In addition to the Gipsoteca, Fondazione Canova also safeguards and promotes Canova’s native house, where he was born in 1757 and where, even today, it is still possible to rediscover the intimate Italian originality that marked his childhood and his early education, along with his links with the foothill environment: ranging from furniture to working tools, gala dresses and books that inspired his art, everything reminds of him, of his pleasantness and great humanity. Today, Fondazione Canova is one of Italy’s liveliest cultural organisations: • a majestic and valuable historical archive and a vast book collection allow it to proceed with its research and scientifc-historical analysis of Canova’s life and art through the Museum’s Management and the Research Facility and with the support of the main national and international cultural institutions; • thousands of visitors (about ffty thousand a year), especially scholars, researchers, students, families, as well as scultpture and architecture enthusiasts, often require the assistance of guides, didactic workshops, performances and reenactments, etc; • the duty to preserve and safeguard the hundreds of works located in the Museo e Gipsoteca Antonio Canova in Possagno – drawings, engravings, paintings, terracotta, plaster and marble works – demands that a continuous restoration activity be carried out with the most cutting-edge technologies available and, at the same time, allows passing on the Canovian heritage to future generations in its most authentic and purest form.
Via Canova 74 31054 Possagno - TV tel +39 0423 544 323 www.museocanova.it [email protected] POSSAGNO AND THE “ANTONIO CANOVA” Fondazione MUSEUM Canova Located at the foothills of Mt. Grappa range, the tiny town of Possagno is known in the world as the great artist Antonio Canova’s native place and for hosting an artwork collection of utmost importance. Antonio Canova left much of his inheritance and legacy to his native town. First, he gave to Possagno his native house with its original furniture, which is today the headquarters of the Pinacoteca: “the most appropriate location and the one which is richest in symbolic values”. Here, Canova’s most relevant pictorial works are guarded. They represent the production of two specifc periods of the artist’s life that date exactly between 1783 and 1790, when Canova was in Rome and was in contact with a very lively artistic culture of international import, and between 1798 and 1799, when the artist travelled back to Possagno and committed himself to painting.
They consist in 16 oil-on-canvas paintings, among which “Cephalus and Procris”, “The Graces”, “The surprise”, “The Self-Portrait as sculptor”; tempera paintings dating back to 1798-1799 are applied to room walls: “various thoughts about dancing, and jokes of Nymphs with cupids, of Muses and Philosophers etc. drawn exclusively for the artist’s amusement and study” as was explained at the end of the Catalogue of 1816.
The Gipsoteca, designed by Venetian architect Francesco Lazzari (1791-1871), a pupil of famous Giannantonio Selva, on commission by Giambattista Sartori Canova was fnished in 1844. It stands out for its large exposition room that gets light from above and is “divided in three square areas of the same size […] terminating in a large recess, the foor of which is a step higher than the remainder of the room”. Moreover, “the panelled ceiling is also divided in three parts”. In 1953-1957 a further building was added by architect Carlo Scarpa. This structure, placed at a side of the nineteenth-century wing, is made up of two openings, which are naturally illuminated with sunlight coming through wide windowpanes and also some corner windows. In the Gipsoteca, not only plaster works were placed, but also a unique sketch exposition, plaster and terracotta models, as well as plaster cast from Canova’s remarkable production. These “maerials” were taken from Rome to Possagno in 1829-1831 with the cooperation of Pietro Stecchini. The current layout was arranged after World War II and still complies Via Canova 74 with an ancient art exposition concept that has the Capitoline Gallery, 31054 Possagno - TV tel +39 0423 544 323 www.museocanova.it [email protected] the Braccio Nuovo of the Vatican Museums and the Museum Chiaramonti as its points of reference. “This is an extremely important operation because, together with the Galleria dell’Accademia in Venice, it is the only example of museum construction work carried out in Veneto during the period of the Restoration”. The help of Luigi Coletti, provincial supervisor for the monuments, was crucial for some sculptural groups placed in the Gipsoteca. Another relevant event was the placement of other artworks coming from Venice and stored in Possagno, as “Hercules and Lyca”, “Theseus and the Minotaur”, the “Monument to Angelo Emo”: on that occasion, the Gipsoteca expansion work began and was carried out by Carlo Scarpa. The third monument to the great artist was the Temple, the parish church that houses the artist’s remains together with those of and bishop Giambattista Sartori-Canova. The Temple was begun in 1819 and fnished in 1830, following a model derived from the Roman Pantheon and the Athenian Parthenon. Inside it, the metopes for the frieze of the pronaos display representations of Old and New Testament themes. On the main altar is the Canova’s large altarpiece representing the “Lamentation over the Dead Christ”. This large canvas was painted by the artist himself in 1799 for the parish church and was later moved to the temple upon bishop Giambattista Sartori Canova’s request. The great artist’s art, is thus still alive in his native town, which has also inherited a relevant part of his legacy. FONDAZIONE CANOVA Fondazione AND PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS Canova Many people are amazed by Fondazione Canova’s various activities including: temporary exhibitions, educational activities, restorations, museum management, communication, conventions. Fondazione Canova of Possagno is a cultural organisation with a huge cultural heritage and a strong mission to fulfll. Income derives from ticket sale and rural properties belonging to the Lascito Giovanni Battista Sartori Canova (i.e. Giovanni Battista Sartori Canova’s Bequeathal). Without the cooperation of enterprises and private and public companies, it would be impossible for Fondazione Canova to support the various activities put in place: for instance, the integrative restoration works of the “Pauline” or the “Dancer” or the “Graces”, carried out with 3D-scan technology and reverse engineering would not have been possible without the sponsorship of some industrial entities interested in art. In exchange for the relevant contributions that it receives, Fondazione Canova ofers both visibility in communication and also a series of initiatives that allow the sponsors to hold company events and evenings in the Museum, thus building well-established relations that facilitate and encourage participation in cultural activites. In the last years, Fondazione Canova has met an increasing number of companies that support culture as a strong point of their corporate social responsibility and as a part of their customer retention program in the territory in which they operate.
Via Canova 74 31054 Possagno - TV tel +39 0423 544 323 www.museocanova.it [email protected] FONDAZIONE CANOVA FOR EDUCATION Fondazione Canova A high number of people visits the Museo Canova in Possagno: 50% of the visitors is made up of school students of every age and class, ranging from kindergarten children to university students. School, both national and foreigner, is thus a particularly important target for Fondazione Canova, which has always been engaged in preparing and ofering cultural activities specifcally conceived for education and combined with the activities carried out by schools before and after visiting the museum. More specifcally, Fondazione Canova ofers a free guide service for schools: an expert trained to introduce Canova’s artworks to students of every age, accompanies the groups through the collections displayed in Canova’s native home. Upon reservation, Fondazione Canova tailors a specifc path to every educational institution, adapting it to the desired school targets, to the students’ age and course of studies, focusing on Canova’s techniques, on the myths represented by his statues or on the artist’s life and his political and artistical relations. Schools also appreciate the various workshop activities that Fondazione Canova has long been putting in place with the help of the association “Amici del Canova” with the aim of creating a playful approach to museum collections. Rather than a traditional museum, Museo Canova and Casa Canova introduce students to a surprising and fascinating discovery of Antonio Canova’s absolute masterpieces, thanks to educational workshops. The educational workshop of Fondazione Canova are: Alla scoperta del colore (‘Discovering color’); Ago, flo e altri miti (‘Needle, thread and other myths’); Le tempere di Antonio Canova (‘Antonio Canova’s tempera paintings’); Laboratorio di argilla (‘Workshop about clay’); Recitiamo la storia (‘Let’s play history’); L’incisione (‘Engraving’). At the beginning of every school year, Fondazione Canova receives all the teachers interested in museum activities and ofers them a guided tour to introduce its workshops. Last but not least, Fondazione Canova features a highly discounted ticket for families and dedicates two days a year for visits and workshops for adults and children: these are the Fa.Mu. (Families at the Museum) days, which allow families to learn Canova’s great art with a playful, yet fascinating Via Canova 74 approach. 31054 Possagno - TV tel +39 0423 544 323 www.museocanova.it [email protected] FONDAZIONE CANOVA AND THE LANDS OF Fondazione CANOVA Canova Fondazione Canova of Possagno is both an international cultural institution and also point of reference for the territory of Pedemontana del Grappa (i.e. the Mt. Grappa foothills) because it hosts one of the oldest museums of our Region and also because it has shared great and tragic events with the local people during the last centuries. For this reason Fondazione Canova aims at strengthening its cooperation and relationships of reciprocal promotion with nearby museums, as the Museum of Asolo and Giorgione’s Museum of Castelfranco, the beautiful Palladian villas of Maser and and Fanzolo (villa Emo Capodilista). In addition to this, a special card allows visitors to enjoy discounted tickets for fve local museums with the aim of promoting the whole territory. In every special event organised by Fondazione Canova within the Museum (temporary exhibitions, theme evenings, conventions etc.), the cultural product is always put in the context of our territory, for example by giving the opportunity to taste the local food and produce of this piece of land, one of the richest in fragrances and favours in the world. Fondazione Canova has many and well-established relationships with universities, schools, companies, museums, institutions and public organisations for cooperation, sponsoring, loans, planning and consultancy in order to improve the promotion of Canova’s works and the studies on neoclassicism. Fondazione Canova of Possagno has never been just a museum. It has always been above all a meeting place for studying, critique, leaning and knowledge. Culture, for Fondazione Canova, amounts to closely experiencing the artist’s absolute masterpieces from. This is the reason why the visitor does not “only” fnd statues and paintings made by the great neoclassical artist. Visitors fnd the canovian “wardrobe”, the kitchen rearranged with furniture of his period, a large library, one of the few dedicated to Neoclassicism and modern art, an important historical archive. There are places to relax (the wisteria garden, the great rose garden, the majestic Italian stone pine, planted in 1799 by Canova himself, the gentle paths through the park and the Brolo). It also has multipurpose halls for temporary exhibitions, educational workshops, conferences and corporate meetings; a research facility to support research on artwork conservation and promotion; a nice guesthouse that ofers the possibility of convivial meeting with typical products and recipes of the Canovian period. For further information and requests, do not exhitate to contact the administrative staf: 0423544323; [email protected] Via Canova 74 31054 Possagno - TV tel +39 0423 544 323
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