Canova & Thorvaldsen: A Portrait of Two Artists

Antonio Canova and Bertel Thorvaldsen are considered by many to be two of the greatest sculptors of the neoclassical era.  Born two decades after Canova, Thorvaldsen became Canova's heir apparent after his death in 1822.  It is my hope to discover what led these two men who lived very similar lives to create neoclassical sculpture.

Antonio Canova was born in the little town of Possagno on November 11, 1757.  His father was a stonecutter who died when Antonio was only four years old.  His mother remarried within a year, and sent Antonio to live with his grandfather – also a stonecutter.  It was with his grandfather that Antonio first began working with the medium that would make him famous.  At the age of eleven Antonio was apprenticed to the sculptor Giuseppi Bernardi after showing great artistic potential.  He traveled with Bernardi to Venice where his career and life as a sculptor would begin.  Any time not spent working with Bernardi was devoted to studying the classical works in the Farsetti Gallery and attending the nude drawing classes at night at the Accademia.  In 1775, two years after the death of Bernardi, Canova produced his first important classical work – a copy of the ancient Wrestlers group for a competition.  His growing reputation led to an invitation to accompany Venice's Ambassador to Rome on his journey back to the Eternal City.

He arrived in Rome on November 4, 1779.  He very soon began studying, as Qutremère de Quincy described it, the "museum of Rome".  He studied the ancient works in private collections throughout the city in addition to the city itself.  He was greatly influenced by the works and ideas of the Germans Meng and Winkelmann.  It was these two first great Greek scholars' ideas that would shape Canova's works.  Before heading to Rome he supposedly said in a conversation to the Ambassador to Rome that an artist did not need to study ancient works, but instead should be inspired by nature.  This statement led to a rather cold reception in Rome, where copying and studying ancient works was the modus operandi of all aspiring artists.  He was later to rescind that statement and clarify that he was just against the mechanical imitation, and wanted to invent, not copy.

His sculpture was thoroughly ancient in its austerity and graceful forms, but Canova was to also be influenced by the baroque technique of high polishing he learned from Bernardi and the great works of his Italian predecessors Michelangelo and Bernini.  While in Rome, Canova had works of antiquity and mythology read to him as he sculpted to supplement his classical education.  The period of 1800-1815 would mark his most prolific period when he was also to become the somewhat reluctant official artist of the Napoleonic regime.  His subject matter was most often purely ancient such as Eros and Psyche or was a modern subject depicted as an ancient figure such as Pauline Bonaparte as Venus.

He infrequently returned home to Possagno to recuperate from the rigors of sculpting.  Towards the end of his life he directed the construction of a new church in Possagno.  He dictated that the design have the portico of the Parthenon and the rotunda of the Pantheon – the two greatest architectural monuments of the ancient world.  He fell ill in October of 1822 and died in Venice on October 13.  He was given a hero's funeral in the Basilica di S. Marco in Venice and entombed in his church in Possagno upon its completion [1].

Bertel Thorvaldsen was born November 19, 1770 in Copenhagen, Denmark.  He, too, was born to a poor craftsman's family.  He assisted his father in his woodcarving shop until the age of twelve when he entered the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts after showing great promise in drawing.  He studied freehand drawing and modeling and received the Major Gold Medal, the Academy's highest award, in 1793 for the relief The Apostles Peter and John Healing a Lame Man Before the Gates of the Temple.  While at the Academy, he was influenced by the sculptor Wiedewelt and the painter Abildgaard who educated him in the neo-classical movement forming in Rome.  Winning the Major Gold Medal included a monetary reward to study in Rome, and Thorvaldsen set off for Rome in the final months of 1796 [2]. Before arriving in Rome his ship docked in Naples and Thorvaldsen spent a month studying the antiquities discovered in Pompeii and Herculaneum.  He finally made it to Rome on March 8, 1797, which he was for the remainder of his life to call his "Roman birthday".  He was sent to Rome to study marble carving and arrived at the height of Canova's fame.  One of his greatest influences and mentors was Georg Zoëga, a Danish archaeologist.  He taught Thorvaldsen the classics and especially the works of Winkelmann.  He spent the first few years he was in Rome copying Roman busts and in 1803 produced his first life-sized sculpture, Jason.  The neo-classical influence can already be seen in his first work in its graceful form and austere grandeur and was deeply indebted to the Belvedere Apollo and the Lance Bearer.  This work catapulted him to fame and he was to become one of the preeminent sculptors in Europe, second only to Canova.  With Canova's death in 1822, Thorvaldsen became the most sought after sculptor in Europe.  He amassed an extremely impressive collection of ancient art and books on the classics and mythology.  He was also asked to restore an ancient sculpture group from Aegina and to work on stabilizing the Marcus Aurelius equestrian statue.  He was eventually convince to return to Copenhagen and made his return voyage with all of his works in 1838.  The last six years of his life was spent teaching at the Academy and making the occasional trip back to Rome.  He died in Copenhagen on March 24, 1844 and was buried in the museum built to hold his works in 1848 [3]. Both Canova and Thorvaldsen were born of humble origins.  Both learned their art from an early age and at the height of their youth and right before the beginning of their blossoming as true artists, traveled to Rome.  There are two common factors that formed each man's artistic genius.  They are the exposure to Winkelmann's works and a training in the classics and the study of the "museum of Rome".  It was Winkelmann who initiated the Greek revival while Canova and Thorvaldsen were products of and contributed to this cultural and intellectual revolution.  Something to consider – perhaps Thorvaldsen was never quite the artist that Canova was because Canova refused to copy the ancients, even if only as a study.  He forced invention on himself instead of letting the ancients inform too much of his work, while perhaps Thorvaldsen lacked the true creative genius of Canova.  Whether this be true or not, the world is left with an enormous body of work from both these great neo-classical artists for which we should all be eternally grateful.

[1] Sesso, G.B. Vinco Da.  Antonio Canova: Opere A Possagno e nel Veneto.  Bassano del Grappa, Italy: Gedina & Tassotti Editori srl., 1992. pp. 7-44.
[2] http://www.thorvaldsensmuseum.dk/page47.aspx
[3] Lange, Bente. Thorvaldsen's Museum: Architecture – Colours – Light. Copenhagen: The Danish Architectural Press, 2002. pp. 11-35.

Bibliography

http://www.thorvaldsensmuseum.dk/page47.aspx

Johns, C. Antonio Canova and the Politics of Patronage in Revolutionary and Napoleonic Europe. Berkley: University of California Press, 1998.

Lange, Bente. Thorvaldsen's Museum: Architecture – Colours – Light. Copenhagen: The Danish Architectural Press, 2002. pp. 11-35

Plon, E. Thorvaldsen's Life and Works. trans. Luyster, I. M.  Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1873.

Sesso, G.B. Vinco Da.  Antonio Canova: Opere A Possagno e nel Veneto.  Bassano del Grappa, Italy: Gedina & Tassotti Editori srl., 1992. pp. 7-44.

© D. R. Rinehart 2007

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