On 5 May 2022, the Museo Gypsotheca Antonio Canova in Possagno opened the exhibition “Canova e il dolore [Canova and grief]”. The Mellerio stelae. The renewal of sepulchral representation , conceived by Vittorio Sgarbi, curated by Francesco Leone and Stefano Grandesso.
The realisation of the exhibition was possible thanks to the charitable contribution of a small number of companies, led by Clariscience.
The exhibition finds its climax in the recomposition, for the first time since their dismemberment, of the two Mellerio monuments, commissioned by Count Giacomo Mellerio in memory of his uncle Giovanni Battista and his wife Elisabetta Castelbarco, after visiting Canova’s Roman studio. In addition to the stelae, the exhibition includes other masterpieces from national and international public and private collections, divided into three sections: the first dedicated to the Mellerio Stelae and the monument by De Fabris, the second to Canova’s renewal of sepulchral representation, and the last tracing the tributes of many artists to Canova and his inventions.
The exhibition also includes some previously unpublished drawings by the artist, the Possagno Canova notebook and drawings by Felice Giani and his circle, loaned by the Prado Museum and exhibited here for the first time.
The exhibition is the second event of 2022 dedicated to the bicentenary of the death of Antonio Canova on 13 October 1822 in Possagno – the artist’s birthplace – celebrating his life and extraordinary works with events and initiatives from Thursday 13 to Sunday 16 October.
