Monday 8 June, 6.30pm
ICI London and Venice in Peril Fund present
In Celebration of Antonio Canova and his Cavallo Colossale
A talk by Barbara Guidi and Christopher Baker
One of the last projects of the great Neoclassical sculptor Antonio Canova (1757–1822) was a monumental gesso horse (Cavallo Colossale), commissioned as part of a planned equestrian monument for Ferdinand I, King of Naples. It suffered an ignominious fate: damaged and eventually dismantled, it was placed in storage in the 1960s and remained there, until today. The Venice in Peril Fund is proud to have supported the conservation of the Cavallo Colossale, returning it to its spectacular glory.
Barbara Guidi, Director of the Musei Civici at Bassano del Grappa — which houses the Cavallo Colossale — and Christopher Baker, Editor of The Burlington Magazine, will discuss the conservation’s remarkable story, Canova’s position as the leading artist of his day, and his inspiration and technical mastery. The evening will also premiere a short documentary charting the project’s journey from multiple fragments to exhibition centrepiece — and the horse’s eventual return home to Bassano del Grappa.
Image credit: Porcel Studio
Book your ticket HERE
Barbara Guidi is Director of the Musei Civici in Bassano del Grappa, near Vicenza, renowned for its outstanding collection of Canova’s sculptures. She has curated major exhibitions on the Bassano family of painters and Palladio, and has worked at other significant Italian institutions, including Ferrara Arte.
Christopher Baker is Editor of The Burlington Magazine — the leading journal of art and its histories, published since 1903. He is an Honorary Professor at the University of Edinburgh and formerly served as a Director at the National Galleries of Scotland, with responsibility for the Scottish National Portrait Gallery and the Scottish National Gallery.