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CANOVA, ANTONIO (1757-1822)
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See also:CANOVA, See also:ANTONIO (1757-1822) , See also:Italian sculptor, was See also:born on the 1st of See also:November 1757, at Passagno, an obscure See also:village situated amid the recesses of the hills of See also:Asolo, where these See also:form the last undulations of the Venetian See also:Alps, as they subside into the plains of Treviso. At three years of See also:age Canova was deprived of both parents, his See also:father dying and his See also:mother re-marrying. Their loss, however, was compensated by the See also:tender solicitude and care of his paternal grandfather and grandmother, the latter of whom lived to experience in her turn the kindest See also:personal See also:attention from her See also:grandson, who, when he had the means, gave her an See also:asylum in his See also:house at See also:Rome. His father and grandfather followed the occupation of See also: .Between the younger son, Giuseppe Falier, and the artist a friendship commenced which terminated only with See also:life. The senator Falier was induced to receive him under his immediate See also:protection. It has been related by an Italian writer and since repeated by several biographers, that Canova was indebted to a trivial circumstance—the moulding of a See also:lion in butter—for the warm See also:interest which Falier took in his welfare. The See also:anecdote may or may not be true. By his patron Canova was placed under Bernardi, or, as he is generally called by filiation, Torretto, a sculptor of considerable See also:eminence, who had taken up a temporary See also:residence at Pagnano, a village in the vicinity of the senator's See also:mansion. This took See also:place whilst Canova was in his thirteenth year; and with Torretto he continued about two years, making in many respects considerable progress. This See also:master returned to Venice, where he soon afterwards died; but by the high terms in which he spoke of his See also:pupil to Falier, the latter was induced to bring the young artist to Venice, whither he accordingly went, and was placed under a See also:nephew of Torretto. With this instructor he continued about a year, studying with the utmost assiduity. After the termination of this engagement he began to See also:work on his own See also:account, and received from his patron an See also:order for a See also:group, " See also:Orpheus and See also:Eurydice." The first figure, which represents Eurydice in flames and See also:smoke, in the See also:act of leaving Hades, was completed towards the See also:close CANOVA of his sixteenth year. It was highly esteemed by his patron and See also:friends, and the artist was now considered qualified to appear before a public tribunal. The kindness of some monks supplied him with his first workshop, which was the vacant See also:cell of a monastery. Here for nearly four years he laboured with the greatest perseverance and See also:industry. He was also See also:regular in his attendance at the See also:academy, where he carried off several prizes. But he relied far more on the study and See also:imitation of nature. From his contemporaries he could learn nothing, for their See also:style was vicious. From their works, therefore, he reverted to living See also:models, as exhibited in every variety of situation. A large portion of his See also:time was also devoted to See also:anatomy, which See also:science was regarded by him as " the See also:secret of the art." He likewise frequented places of public amusement, where he care-fully studied the expressions and attitudes of the performers. He formed a See also:resolution, which was faithfully adhered to for several years, never to close his eyes at See also:night without having produced some See also:design. Whatever was likely to forward his See also:advancement in sculpture he studied with ardour. On archaeological pursuits he bestowed considerable attention. With See also:ancient and See also:modern See also:history he rendered himself well acquainted and he also began to acquire some of the See also:continental See also:languages. Three years had now elapsed without any See also:production coming from his See also:chisel. He began, however, to See also:complete the group for his 'patron, and the Orpheus which followed evinced the See also:great advance he had made. The work was universally applauded, and laid the See also:foundation of his fame. Several See also:groups succeeded this performance, amongst which was that of " See also:Daedalus and Icarus," the most celebrated work of his noviciate. The simplicity of style and the faithful imitation of nature which characterized them called forth the warmest admiration, His merits and reputation being now generally recognized, his thoughts began to turn from the shores of the Adriatic to the See also:banks of the See also:Tiber, for which he set out at the commencement of his twenty-See also:fourth year. Before his departure for Rome, his friends had applied to.the Venetian See also:senate for a See also:pension, to enable him to pursue his studies without embarrassment. The application was ultimately successful. The See also:stipend amounted to three See also:hundred ducats (about £6o per annum), and was limited to three years. Canova had obtained letters of introduction to the Venetian See also:ambassador, the See also:Cavaliere Zulian, and enlightened and generous See also:protector of the arts, and was received in the most hospitable manner. His arrival in Rome, on the 28th of See also:December 1780, marks a new era in his life. It was here he was to perfect himself by a study of the most splendid See also:relics of antiquity, and to put his talents to the severest test by a competition with the living masters of the art. The result was equal to the highest hopes cherished either by himself or by his friends. The work which first established his fame at Rome was " See also:Theseus vanquishing the See also:Minotaur." The figures are of the heroic See also:size. The victorious Theseus is represented as seated on the lifeless See also:body of the See also:monster. The exhaustion which visibly pervades his whole See also:frame proves the terrible nature of the conflict in which he has been engaged. Simplicity and natural expression had hitherto characterized Canova's style; with these were now See also:united more exalted conceptions of grandeur and of truth. The Theseus was regarded with fervent admiration. Canova's next undertaking was a See also:monument in See also:honour of See also:Clement XIV.; but before he proceeded with it he deemed it necessary to See also:request permission from the Venetian senate, whose servant he considered himself to be, in See also:consideration of the pension. This he solicited. in See also:person, and it was granted. He returned immediately to Rome, and opened his celebrated studio close to the Via del Babuino. He spent about two years of unremitting toil in arranging the design and composing the models for the See also:tomb of the pontiff. After these were completed, other two years were employed in See also:finishing the monument, and it was finally opened to public inspection in 1787. The work, in the See also:opinion of enthusiastic dilettanti, stamped the author as the first artist of modern times. After five years of incessant labour, he completed another See also:cenotaph to the memory of'Clement Numerous works were produced in the years 1795-1797, of which several were repetitions of previous productions. One was the celebrated group representing the " Parting of See also:Venus and See also:Adonis." This famous production was sent to See also:Naples. The See also:French Revolution was now extending its shocks over See also:Italy; and Canova sought obscurity and repose in his native Passagno. Thither he retired in 1798, and there he continued for about a year, principally employed in See also:painting, of which art also he had some knowledge. He executed upwards of twenty paintings about this time. One of his productions is a picture representing the dead body of the Saviour just removed from the See also:cross, surrounded by the three Marys, S. See also: By a public See also:decree, this See also:fine work was placed in one of the slanzc of the Vatican hitherto reserved for the most See also:precious works of antiquity; but it would be a See also:mistake to say that it wholly sustains this comparison, or that it rivals the earlier realization of the same subject in Italian art, that by See also:Cellini. In 18o2, at the personal request of See also:Napoleon, Canova repaired to See also:Paris to See also:model a bust of the first See also:consul. The artist was entertained with munificence, and various honours were conferred upon him. The statue, which is See also:colossal, was not finished till six years after. On the fall of the great Napoleon, See also: The " See also:Graces " and the " Venus " are more elevated. The " Awakened Nymph " is another work of uncommon beauty. The mother of Napoleon, his See also:consort Maria Louisa (as See also:Concord), to model whom the author made a further journey to Paris in 181o, the princess Esterhazy and the muse Polymnia (Elisa See also:Bonaparte) take their place in this class, as do the ideal heads, comprising See also:Corinna, See also:Sappho, Laura, See also:Beatrice and See also:Helen of See also:Troy. (3) Of the cenotaphs and funeral monuments the most splendid is the monument to the archduchess Maria See also:Christina of See also:Austria, consisting of nine figures. Besides the two for the See also:Roman pontiffs already mentioned, there is one for See also:Alfieri, another for See also:Ems, a Venetian See also:admiral, and a small model of a cenotaph for See also:Nelson, besides a great variety of monumental relieves. The events which marked the life of the artist during the first fifteen years of the period in which he was engaged on the above-mentioned works scarcely merit See also:notice. His mind was entirely absorbed in the labours of his studio, and, with the exception of his journeys to Paris, one to See also:Vienna, and a few See also:short intervals of See also:absence in See also:Florence and other parts of Italy, he never quitted Rome. In his own words, " his statues were the See also:sole proofs of his See also:civil existence." There was, however, another See also:proof, which modesty forbade him to mention, an ever-active benevolence, especially towards artists. In 1815 he was commissioned by the See also:Pope to superintend the transmission from Paris of those works of art which had formerly been conveyed thither under the direction of Napoleon. By his zeal and exertions, for there were many conflicting interests to reconcile, he adjusted the affair in a manner at once creditable to his See also:judgment and fortunate for his See also:country. In the autumn of this year he gratified a wish he had See also:long entertained of visiting See also:London, where he received the highest tokens of esteem. The artist for whom he showed particular sympathy and regard in London was See also:Hayden, who might at the time be counted the sole representative of See also:historical painting there, and whom he especially honoured for his championship of the See also:Elgin See also:marbles, then recently transported to See also:England, and ignorantly depreciated by polite connoisseurs. Canova returned to Rome in the beginning of 18'6, with the ransomed spoils of his country's See also:genius. Immediately after, he received several marks of distinction, by the hand of the Pope himself his name was inscribed in " the See also:Golden See also:Volume of the Capitol," and he received the See also:title of See also:marquis of See also:Ischia, with an See also:annual pension of 3000 crowns, about £625. He now contemplated a great work, a colossal statue of See also:Religion. The model filled Italy with admiration; the marble was procured, and the chisel of the sculptor ready to be applied to it, when the See also:jealousy of churchmen as to the site, or some other cause, deprived the country of the projected work. The mind of Canova was inspired with the warmest sense of devotion, and though foiled in this instance he resolved to consecrate a See also:shrine to the cause. In his native village he began to make preparations for erecting a See also:temple which was to contain, not only the above statue, but other works of his own; within its precincts were to repose also the ashes of the founder. Accordingly he repaired to Passagno in 1819. At a sumptuous entertainment which he gave to his workmen, there occurred an incident which marks the kindliness of his character. When the festivities of the See also:day had terminated, he requested the shepherdesses and See also:peasant-girls of the adjacent hamlets to pass in See also:review before him, and to each he made a See also:present, expending on the occasion about £400. We need not, therefore, be surprised that a few years afterwards, when the remains of the donor came to be deposited in their last asylum, the grief which the surrounding peasantry evinced was in natural expression so intense as to See also:eclipse the studied solemnity of more pompous See also:mourning. After the foundation-stone of this edifice had been laid, Canova returned to Rome; but every succeeding autumn he continued to visit Passagno, in order to See also:direct the workmen, and encourage them with pecuniary rewards and medals. In the meantime the vast See also:expenditure exhausted his resources, and compelled him to labour with unceasing assiduity notwithstanding age and disease. During the period which intervened between commencing operations at Passagno and his decease, he executed or finished some of his most striking works: Amongst these were the group " See also:Mars and Venus," the colossal figure of See also:Pius VI., the " Pieta," the " St John," the " recumbent Magdalen." The last performance which issued from his hand was a colossal bust of his friend, the See also:Count See also:Cicognara. In May 1822 he paid a visit to Naples, to superintend the construction of See also:wax moulds for an equestrian statue of the perjured See also:Bourbon king Ferdinand. This journey materially injured his health, but he rallied again on his return to Rome. Towards the latter end of the year he paid his annual visit to the place of his See also:birth, when he experienced a relapse. He proceeded to Venice, and expired there on the 13th of See also:October 1822, at the age of nearly sixty-five. His disease was one which had affected him from an early age, caused by the continual use of See also:carving-tools, producing a depression of the ribs. The most distinguished funeral honours were paid to his remains, which were deposited in the temple at Passagno on the 25th of the same See also:month. Canova, in a certain sense, renovated the art of sculpture in Italy, and brought it back to that See also:standard from which it had declined when the sense both of classical beauty and moderation, and of Titanic invention and human or superhuman See also:energy as embodied by the unexampled genius of See also:Michelangelo, had succumbed to the overloaded and flabby mannerisms of the 17th and 18th centuries. His finishing was refined, and he had a See also:special method of giving a mellow and soft See also:appearance to the marble. He formed his models of the same size as the work was intended to be. The prominent defect of Canova's attractive and highly trained art is that which may be summed up in the word artificiality,--that quality, so characteristic of the modern mind, which seizes upon certain properties of conception and execution in the art of the past, and upon certain types of beauty or emotion in life, and makes a See also:compound of the two—regulating both by the standard of taste prevalent in contemporary " high society," a standard which, referring to cultivation and refinement as its higher See also:term, declines towards See also:fashion as the See also:lower. Of his moral character a generous and unwearied benevolence formed the most prominent feature. The greater part of the vast See also:fortune realized by his works was distributed in acts of this description. He established prizes for artists and endowed all the See also:academies of Rome. The aged and unfortunate were also the See also:objects of his peculiar solicitude. His titles were numerous. He was enrolled amongst the nobilityof several states, decora tedwith variousorders of See also:knighthood, and associated in the highest professional honours. See the Life of Canova by Memes; that by Missirini; the Biografia Jy the Count Cicognara; Canova et ses ouvrages, by See also:Quatremere de See also:Quincy (1834); Opere scelte di Antonio Canova, by Anzelmi (Naples, 1842) ; Canova, by A. G. See also:Meyer (1898) ; and La Relazione del Canova See also:con Napoli . . . memorie con documerti inediti, by Angelo Borzelli (1901). (W. M. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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