Washington, DC (June 8, 2023) – Inaugurated today by Italian Ambassador to the United States Mariangela Zappia, the National Gallery of Art’s new exhibition Canova: Sketching in Clay features works of Venetian sculptor and painter Antonio Canova as part of initiatives marking the 200th anniversary of his death.
“The National Gallery’s extraordinary exhibitions on Italian masterpieces and their constant success with the public represent great opportunities to strengthen the link between our two countries by promoting Italy’s incomparable artistic heritage, which sees in Canova one of its highest and best known expressions even here in the United States,” stated Ambassador Zappia.
Canova: Sketching in Clay, which is open to the public from Sunday, June 11, 2023 to Monday, October 9, 2023, at the National Gallery of Art of Washington, is the first exhibition in fifty years entirely dedicated to the artist’s clay models. More than thirty terracottas, seven plasters, and four marbles present an entirely different image of the artist’s technique compared to his finished products. Curated by C. D. Dickerson, Ph.D., Senior Curator of European and American Art at the National Gallery of Art, and Emerson Bowyer, Searle Curator, Painting and Sculpture of Europe, at the Art Institute of Chicago, the exhibition is organized by the National Gallery of Art and the Art Institute of Chicago with additional support provided by the Embassy of Italy under the patronage of the National Committee for the Celebration of the Bicentenary of the Death of Antonio Canova of the Italian Ministry of Culture. The Embassy further contributed to the creation of a documentary, which will be shown as part of the exhibition.
