(April 19, 2017) An exhibition to celebrate the bond between Veneto and United States: "Canova's George Washington" is the title of the exhibition dedicated to the only work performed for America by the great Venetian sculptor, scheduled for next year, at first tat the Frick Collection in New York (May 22 to September 23) and then at Gypsotheca and Museum of Possagno, in the province of Treviso (November 10, 2018 - April 22, 2019). The exhibition - designed and built by Xavier F. Salomon, chief curator of the Frick Collection, in collaboration with Mario Guderzo, director of Gypsotheca and Museum Antonio Canova and the Venice International Foundation and the Friends of Venice Italy Inc. - was presented in Venice, at Palazzo Balbi, headquarters of the regional Council of Veneto, by Culture Assessor, Cristiano Corazzari, by the president of the Antonio Canova Foundation, Franca Coin, and by the same Salomon and Guderzo and Possagno and Asolo mayors, Gianni De Paoli and Mauro Migliorini. "It is an initiative of high cultural value - said Corazzari - to celebrate, from both sides of the ocean, one of the greatest sculptor of all time. Canova continues to be an ambassador of the Venetian culture in the world, a master whose fame and excellence crossed the boundaries of continents when he was alive, and he will remain forever a symbol of a land which not only houses a huge artistic heritage, but thet also was able to export genius, beauty and those extraordinary values of civilization that belonged to the Venetian Republic and was a model for the nascent United States of America". "The Gypsotheca, the Antonio Canova Museum in Possagno and the Frick Collection in New York will begin a path of exploitation of the Italian cultural heritage where Canova was a great hero - said the President Coin - not forgetting also the critical role that he had in the recovery of works of art taken from Italy. With his diplomatic skills he convinced the French to restore important works stolen by Napoleon. " (Red)

ABOUT / THE LOST MASTERPIECE

In 1816 the Parliament of North Carolina commissioned to Antonio Canova a statue of Washington, first president of the United States of America. Who proposed the Venetian artist was Thomas Jefferson, third president of the USA, but also an architect and man of culture, who was convinced that no American would be able to deal with that challenge, which could only be entrusted to the greatest european sculptor and therefore the world, Canova. The commemorative monument, who represented Washington in the role of a Roman general, was placed in the State House in Raleigh, capital of North Carolina, in 1821, only ten years later a fire destroyed it, reducing it into fragments. Fortunately in Gypsotheca and Museum of Possagno it is preserved the original plaster model life-sized executed by Canova in 1818, which will be the most important piece of this exhibition that traces the history of the lost masterpiece, along with preliminary sketches, drawings and engravings.