In a short while we will see our Horses,
our pictures, our manuscripts returned to Venice
from Paris, together with our Lion.
LEOPOLDO CICOGNARA
In a short while we will see our Horses, our pictures, our manuscripts returned to Venice from Paris, together with our Lion.
LEOPOLDO CICOGNARA
With more than 100 works, the exhibition Canova, Hayez, Cicognara. The Last Glory of Venice celebrates the bicentenary of the foundation of the Gallerie dell’Accademia, a special moment in the history of the “Serenissima” Republic of Venice, and recalls the cultural reawakening of the city promoted by three intellectuals from 1815 onwards, the date that there were returned from Paris the four horses of Saint Mark’s, a work symbolising Venice.
The undoubted leader of this fortunate state of affairs was Count Leopoldo Cicognara, an intellectual and the president of the Accademia di Belle Arti who, together with his friend Antonio Canova the leading protector of the project, and with Francesco Hayez, worked to create a museum of an international standing, one able to develop Venice’s extraordinary art heritage and, at the same time, to promote contemporary art.
The masterpieces on show are divided into ten thematic sections; among them there stands out the reunified series of works sent in 1818 to the court in Vienna for the wedding of Emperor Franz I a series known as the “Tribute of the Venetian Provinces”, and which has returned to Venice for the first time in two hundred years. The exhibition itinerary also includes Canova’s The Muse Polyhymnia, groups of sculptures, two altars, a bronze and wooden table with its top covered with refined Murano glass, and some precious books, all representing the highest art products of Venetian Neoclassicism.
Among other works of the highest quality, mention should be made of the section devoted to the return of the four horses of Saint Mark’s and the cameo Giove Egioco, as well as a commemoration of the acquisition of drawings by Leonardo and Raphael from the collection of Giuseppe Bossi, a friend of Canova and Cicognara, someone who greatly enriched the heritage of the Accademia.
The exhibition will not just fill the rooms used for temporary exhibitions, but will extend into the permanent collection where there will be indicated the works confiscated in the Napoleonic period and returned from Paris in this period, together with a reconstruction of the first museum installation in 1817, and the analyses made by nineteenth century artists of the collections.
Donors and Partners
EXHIBITION PROMOTED BY
the Ministry for cultural affairs and tourism
Gallerie dell’Accademia di Venezia
the Veneto regional government
WITH THE CONTRIBUTION OF
Fondazione di Venezia
Michelangelo Foundation for Creativity and Craftsmanship
Generali Spa
Fondazione Ado Furlan
WITH THE BACKING OF THE ASSOCIATION
OF INTERNATIONAL PRIVATE COMMITTEES
FOR THE SAFEGUARDING OF VENICE
Venetian Heritage
Save Venice Inc.
The Venice in Peril Fund
The Venice International Foundation
Friends of Venice Italy Inc.
Comité Français pour la Sauvegarde de Venise
CULTURAL MEDIATIONS
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH
Ca’ Foscari University, Venice
SPONSOR TECNICI
Apice
Willis Towers Foundation
Grafiche Veneziane
MEDIA PARTNER
Corriere del Veneto
OUR THANKS TO THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF
Topolino
ORGANISATION
Venezia Accademia
WITH
Civita Tre Venezie
Mondadori Electa
Marsilio Editori
Verona83
Exhibition promoted by
with the contribution of
with the backing of the Association
of International Private Committees
for the Safeguarding of Venice
cultural mediations
in partnership with
technical sponsors
media partner
our thanks to the editorial staff of
organisation
Venezia Accademia
with
Exhibition promoted by
with the contribution of
with the backing of the Association
of International Private Committees
for the Safeguarding of Venice
cultural mediations
in partnership with
technical sponsors
media partner
our thanks to the editorial staff of
organisation
Venezia Accademia
with