{"id":612,"date":"2015-10-15T15:42:48","date_gmt":"2015-10-15T15:42:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.candelalearning.com\/zelixart102\/?post_type=chapter&p=612"},"modified":"2015-10-29T22:08:06","modified_gmt":"2015-10-29T22:08:06","slug":"antonio-canova","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/atd-herkimer-arthistory2\/chapter\/antonio-canova\/","title":{"raw":"Antonio Canova","rendered":"Antonio Canova"},"content":{"raw":"

A Beauty Queen<\/h2>\r\nAnd the winner of \u201cMiss Arte Italiana\u201d is\u2014drum roll please\u2014Antonio Canova\u2019s\u00a0Paolina Borghese as Venus Victorious! Or so, at least, is what a recent pole carried\u00a0out for the Marilena Ferrari Foundation decided.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_613\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"588\"]\"A Figure 1. Antonio Canova, Paolina Borghese as Venus Victorious<\/em>, 1804\u201308, White marble, 160 \u00d7 192 cm, Galleria Borghese, Rome[\/caption]\r\n\r\n\u201cMiss Italian Art,\u201d a cringeworthy epithet perhaps, but one which, given the\u00a0strength of the competition, is nothing to sneeze at\u2014works by Botticelli,\u00a0Leonardo and Titian were also in contention.\r\n\r\nCertainly, the semi-nude, life-size portrait of Napoleon\u2019s wayward sister is a\u00a0sumptuous work of art. Four years in the making, it was commissioned by\u00a0Paolina\u2019s second husband, the Italian prince, Camillo Borghese, shortly after\u00a0their marriage in 1804, a union designed to help Napoleon realize his dreams of\u00a0establishing a pan-European dynasty and legitimize his claims to the Kingdom of\u00a0Italy.\r\n

Canova and Neoclassicism<\/h2>\r\nAnotonio Canova was a leading light of the Neoclassical movement. The style,\u00a0influenced by the archeological discoveries in Pompeii and Herculaneum as\u00a0well as the theories of the art historian Johann Wincklemann, looked back to the\u00a0artistic achievements of the Greeks and Romans with renewed interest, informed\u00a0by the spirit of rational enquiry that characterized the Age of Enlightenment.\r\n\r\nAs Inspector General of Antiquities and Fine Art of the Papal States and\u00a0responsible for acquiring works for the Vatican museums, Canova would have\u00a0known his Phidias from his Praxiteles. However, he was no slavish imitator.\u00a0Instead he wished to emulate the works of these earlier artists.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_614\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\"]\"A Figure 2. Antonio Canova, Napoleon as Mars the Peacemaker<\/em>, Wellingtom Museum, Apsley House, London[\/caption]\r\n\r\nThe methods he used demanded absolute precision. Working from numerous\u00a0preparatory sketches he modeled the form into a life-size clay version. He\u00a0then cast a plaster model of this which he marked up with points that were\u00a0transferred on to the marble block. His assistants would carve the marble into\u00a0shape and only then, for \u201cthe last hand\u201d, did Canova raise his chisel, sculpting the\u00a0form and crucially polishing the marble, using wax, to a fine, glistening finish.\r\n\r\nMany of his models were great personalities of the age. Canova would portray\u00a0them in antique costume. This classicizing of contemporary figures verged\u00a0sometimes on the ridiculous, as in the colossal nude sculpture of Napoleon as\u00a0Mars the Peacemaker\u00a0<\/i>(figure 2). His portrait of Paolina Borghese is more successful.\r\n

A Modern Day Venus<\/h2>\r\nPaolina is shown reclining on a pillowed couch in a pose of studied grace, both\u00a0concentrated and relaxed. The modelling of the nude body is extraordinarily\u00a0lifelike, while Canova\u2019s treatment of the surface of the marble captures the soft\u00a0texture of skin. The tactile quality of the piece is bought out particularly in the\u00a0way the sitter\u2019s own hands are occupied, the fingers of her right connecting\u00a0ever so lightly with the nape of her neck, offer a gesture charged with seductive\u00a0promise. The head is raised slightly suggesting that something or someone has\u00a0suddenly entered her line of vision. The apple she holds in her left hand, her\u00a0fingers wrapped around it suggestive of erotic touch, identifies her as Venus\u00a0Victorious, the goddess awarded the Golden Apple of Discord in perhaps the\u00a0first beauty competition in the history of Western culture. The story comes from\u00a0ancient Greece. Paris the Trojan prince judged Venus more beautiful than either\u00a0of her rivals, Minerva and Juno. In return Venus introduced him to a Greek girl\u00a0called Helen and the rest of course is the stuff of epic poetry.\r\n\r\nOriginally, Canova was to depict her as Diana, the chaste goddess of the moon\u00a0and the hunt, a role that more would have require her to have been clothed.\u00a0Paolina insisted on Venus, though. A bit of a loose cannon with a reputation\u00a0for promiscuity, the Emperor\u2019s sister enjoyed courting controversy and posing\u00a0naked would certainly have raised a few eyebrows in polite society. But there\u00a0was more to it than that. Apparently, the Borghese family believed themselves\u00a0to be descended from the heroic founder of Rome, Aeneas, who according to\u00a0Virgil was the son of Venus. The choice then not only suited Paolina\u2019s flirtatious\u00a0character, but also would have been met with approval by the Borghese family,\u00a0suggesting continuity between the ancient and modern worlds.\r\n\r\nHer hair, a mass of curls bound in a Psyche knot, serves as a visual connector\u00a0between the two, being worn in imitation of ancient Greek styles as was the\u00a0fashion of the day. Its careful articulation offsets the smooth shallow planes of\u00a0her torso.\u00a0Creating a contrast of another sort, the couch Paolina lies on is carved from\u00a0a different type of marble, the base part of which is covered in rhythmically\u00a0flowing drapery, much like on a catafalque, a raised platform used to bear coffins.\r\n\r\nThe allusion to mortuary art is not that surprising; in Greek and Roman art the\u00a0reclining female figure is frequently found on sarcophagus lids. So conspicuous\u00a0an allusion demands further explanation, though, and I suppose if one were\u00a0forced to read for a meaning here it would have to be the defeat of death by\u00a0beauty\u2014as expressed through art\u2014that is being celebrated in the image.\r\n

Reception<\/h2>\r\nCanova\u2019s extraordinary capacity to breathe life into his sculptures was noted\u00a0by his contemporaries. Literally animated, the sculpture would have been on a\u00a0revolving mechanism, allowing the static viewer to see the work in the round. It\u00a0would also have been viewed by candlelight. The finely polished waxy surface\u00a0would have reflected light brilliantly, creating chiaroscuoro, a more painterly\u00a0than sculptural effect, perhaps, but then Canova was a painterly sculptor. Paolina\u00a0owes more to the likes of Giorgione\u2019s Sleeping Venus<\/i> and Titian\u2019s Venus of Urbino\u00a0<\/i>and of course David\u2019s Madame Recamier <\/i>than antique sculpture a point not\u00a0lost on the Neo-classical purists of the day who condemned the work as out of\u00a0keeping with their austere classical theories.\r\n\r\nInevitably the sculpture was going to cause a scandal. While intended for a\u00a0private audience sophisticated enough to appreciate the classical allusions, given\u00a0Paolina\u2019s infidelities, the sculpture also served to confirm the rumours about her.\r\n\r\nIf anything, though, Paolina enjoyed the attention. Asked if she minded having to\u00a0pose nude, she replied: \u201cWhy should I? The studio was heated.\u201d Camillo refused\u00a0to allow the sculpture to leave his residence. Napoleon agreed.\r\n

Impact<\/h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_617\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"200\"]\"A Figure 3. John Gibson, The Tinted Venus, c. 1851\u201356, Walker Art Gallery Liverpool[\/caption]\r\n\r\nFrom Ingres to Renoir, from Proud\u2019hon to Puvis de Chavannes, Paolina Borghese\u00a0as Venus Victorious had an enormous impact on nineteenth century French\u00a0artists. It is in the works of the English sculptor John Gibson, though, who Canova\u00a0took under his wing later on in life, that we find her most faithful devotee.\r\n\r\nAnimating the figure with pools of reflected light, the glistening waxy surface\u00a0of his most celebrated work The Tinted Venus<\/i>\u00a0(figure 3) owes much to Venus Victorious<\/i>;\u00a0together with his own innovative use of polychromy the sculpture provoked\u00a0outrage among its Victorian audience for whom it appeared a little too real: \u201ca\u00a0naked, impudent English woman\u201d as one review put her. Canova\u2019s own naked,\u00a0impudent French woman would have been proud.","rendered":"

A Beauty Queen<\/h2>\n

And the winner of \u201cMiss Arte Italiana\u201d is\u2014drum roll please\u2014Antonio Canova\u2019s\u00a0Paolina Borghese as Venus Victorious! Or so, at least, is what a recent pole carried\u00a0out for the Marilena Ferrari Foundation decided.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Figure 1. Antonio Canova, Paolina Borghese as Venus Victorious<\/em>, 1804\u201308, White marble, 160 \u00d7 192 cm, Galleria Borghese, Rome<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cMiss Italian Art,\u201d a cringeworthy epithet perhaps, but one which, given the\u00a0strength of the competition, is nothing to sneeze at\u2014works by Botticelli,\u00a0Leonardo and Titian were also in contention.<\/p>\n

Certainly, the semi-nude, life-size portrait of Napoleon\u2019s wayward sister is a\u00a0sumptuous work of art. Four years in the making, it was commissioned by\u00a0Paolina\u2019s second husband, the Italian prince, Camillo Borghese, shortly after\u00a0their marriage in 1804, a union designed to help Napoleon realize his dreams of\u00a0establishing a pan-European dynasty and legitimize his claims to the Kingdom of\u00a0Italy.<\/p>\n

Canova and Neoclassicism<\/h2>\n

Anotonio Canova was a leading light of the Neoclassical movement. The style,\u00a0influenced by the archeological discoveries in Pompeii and Herculaneum as\u00a0well as the theories of the art historian Johann Wincklemann, looked back to the\u00a0artistic achievements of the Greeks and Romans with renewed interest, informed\u00a0by the spirit of rational enquiry that characterized the Age of Enlightenment.<\/p>\n

As Inspector General of Antiquities and Fine Art of the Papal States and\u00a0responsible for acquiring works for the Vatican museums, Canova would have\u00a0known his Phidias from his Praxiteles. However, he was no slavish imitator.\u00a0Instead he wished to emulate the works of these earlier artists.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Figure 2. Antonio Canova, Napoleon as Mars the Peacemaker<\/em>, Wellingtom Museum, Apsley House, London<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The methods he used demanded absolute precision. Working from numerous\u00a0preparatory sketches he modeled the form into a life-size clay version. He\u00a0then cast a plaster model of this which he marked up with points that were\u00a0transferred on to the marble block. His assistants would carve the marble into\u00a0shape and only then, for \u201cthe last hand\u201d, did Canova raise his chisel, sculpting the\u00a0form and crucially polishing the marble, using wax, to a fine, glistening finish.<\/p>\n

Many of his models were great personalities of the age. Canova would portray\u00a0them in antique costume. This classicizing of contemporary figures verged\u00a0sometimes on the ridiculous, as in the colossal nude sculpture of Napoleon as\u00a0Mars the Peacemaker\u00a0<\/i>(figure 2). His portrait of Paolina Borghese is more successful.<\/p>\n

A Modern Day Venus<\/h2>\n

Paolina is shown reclining on a pillowed couch in a pose of studied grace, both\u00a0concentrated and relaxed. The modelling of the nude body is extraordinarily\u00a0lifelike, while Canova\u2019s treatment of the surface of the marble captures the soft\u00a0texture of skin. The tactile quality of the piece is bought out particularly in the\u00a0way the sitter\u2019s own hands are occupied, the fingers of her right connecting\u00a0ever so lightly with the nape of her neck, offer a gesture charged with seductive\u00a0promise. The head is raised slightly suggesting that something or someone has\u00a0suddenly entered her line of vision. The apple she holds in her left hand, her\u00a0fingers wrapped around it suggestive of erotic touch, identifies her as Venus\u00a0Victorious, the goddess awarded the Golden Apple of Discord in perhaps the\u00a0first beauty competition in the history of Western culture. The story comes from\u00a0ancient Greece. Paris the Trojan prince judged Venus more beautiful than either\u00a0of her rivals, Minerva and Juno. In return Venus introduced him to a Greek girl\u00a0called Helen and the rest of course is the stuff of epic poetry.<\/p>\n

Originally, Canova was to depict her as Diana, the chaste goddess of the moon\u00a0and the hunt, a role that more would have require her to have been clothed.\u00a0Paolina insisted on Venus, though. A bit of a loose cannon with a reputation\u00a0for promiscuity, the Emperor\u2019s sister enjoyed courting controversy and posing\u00a0naked would certainly have raised a few eyebrows in polite society. But there\u00a0was more to it than that. Apparently, the Borghese family believed themselves\u00a0to be descended from the heroic founder of Rome, Aeneas, who according to\u00a0Virgil was the son of Venus. The choice then not only suited Paolina\u2019s flirtatious\u00a0character, but also would have been met with approval by the Borghese family,\u00a0suggesting continuity between the ancient and modern worlds.<\/p>\n

Her hair, a mass of curls bound in a Psyche knot, serves as a visual connector\u00a0between the two, being worn in imitation of ancient Greek styles as was the\u00a0fashion of the day. Its careful articulation offsets the smooth shallow planes of\u00a0her torso.\u00a0Creating a contrast of another sort, the couch Paolina lies on is carved from\u00a0a different type of marble, the base part of which is covered in rhythmically\u00a0flowing drapery, much like on a catafalque, a raised platform used to bear coffins.<\/p>\n

The allusion to mortuary art is not that surprising; in Greek and Roman art the\u00a0reclining female figure is frequently found on sarcophagus lids. So conspicuous\u00a0an allusion demands further explanation, though, and I suppose if one were\u00a0forced to read for a meaning here it would have to be the defeat of death by\u00a0beauty\u2014as expressed through art\u2014that is being celebrated in the image.<\/p>\n

Reception<\/h2>\n

Canova\u2019s extraordinary capacity to breathe life into his sculptures was noted\u00a0by his contemporaries. Literally animated, the sculpture would have been on a\u00a0revolving mechanism, allowing the static viewer to see the work in the round. It\u00a0would also have been viewed by candlelight. The finely polished waxy surface\u00a0would have reflected light brilliantly, creating chiaroscuoro, a more painterly\u00a0than sculptural effect, perhaps, but then Canova was a painterly sculptor. Paolina\u00a0owes more to the likes of Giorgione\u2019s Sleeping Venus<\/i> and Titian\u2019s Venus of Urbino\u00a0<\/i>and of course David\u2019s Madame Recamier <\/i>than antique sculpture a point not\u00a0lost on the Neo-classical purists of the day who condemned the work as out of\u00a0keeping with their austere classical theories.<\/p>\n

Inevitably the sculpture was going to cause a scandal. While intended for a\u00a0private audience sophisticated enough to appreciate the classical allusions, given\u00a0Paolina\u2019s infidelities, the sculpture also served to confirm the rumours about her.<\/p>\n

If anything, though, Paolina enjoyed the attention. Asked if she minded having to\u00a0pose nude, she replied: \u201cWhy should I? The studio was heated.\u201d Camillo refused\u00a0to allow the sculpture to leave his residence. Napoleon agreed.<\/p>\n

Impact<\/h2>\n
\"A<\/p>\n

Figure 3. John Gibson, The Tinted Venus, c. 1851\u201356, Walker Art Gallery Liverpool<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

From Ingres to Renoir, from Proud\u2019hon to Puvis de Chavannes, Paolina Borghese\u00a0as Venus Victorious had an enormous impact on nineteenth century French\u00a0artists. It is in the works of the English sculptor John Gibson, though, who Canova\u00a0took under his wing later on in life, that we find her most faithful devotee.<\/p>\n

Animating the figure with pools of reflected light, the glistening waxy surface\u00a0of his most celebrated work The Tinted Venus<\/i>\u00a0(figure 3) owes much to Venus Victorious<\/i>;\u00a0together with his own innovative use of polychromy the sculpture provoked\u00a0outrage among its Victorian audience for whom it appeared a little too real: \u201ca\u00a0naked, impudent English woman\u201d as one review put her. Canova\u2019s own naked,\u00a0impudent French woman would have been proud.<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t

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Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t
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