Sculptor Canova's mark on Rome

Canova's kiln, with Franz Prati's painting,
inside art space Canova22

Antonio Canova, the sculpture of the famously sexy (and mostly naked) Pauline Bonaparte as Venus (in the Galleria Borghese in Rome), is having a comeback on several fronts, one of them in Rome.

Pauline, in eternal recline at the Galleria
Borghese, in the Villa Borghese park in Rome.

Canova was considered the best sculptor of the 19th century, but as a neoclassicist, his reputation ebbed during the 20th century. Born in the Veneto in 1757 and centered in Venice, he also travelled widely and had a studio in Rome, where, in the early 1800s, Napoleon Bonaparte's sister (who married into the prominent Borghese family) was his model.

Above, the sculptures in marble, bronze, and plaster
that surround diners at the Caffé Canova Tadolini
on via del Babuino in Rome.

Canova self-portrait 1792. 
(Credit here.)

While the sculpture is on display only by means of a ticket to the Galleria Borghese, there are quite a few other "sightings" for Canova within the Eternal City. We went to one this year, discovering that the kiln where Canova's works were fired has been made into an arts and events space of note. It's Canova22, on via Canova at #22 (around the corner from via del Corso), a 4 minute walk from the studio (now a café), on via del Babuino. 

Above, Franz Prati describes his 
painting to Dianne, inside the Canova22
kiln/artspace.

Mara Van Wees's sculpture in 
the Canova22 space.

One of the "soci," or members of the art collective at Canova22, Franz Prati, showed us around the exhibition of his paintings and sculptures by his colleague, Mara Van Wees. He also explained the performance art and dance events that have been held inside what was the "fornace" or kiln. It's an evocative space, beautifully restored and converted for the arts collective.

The space/collective has a sophisticated website with information and photos, even a video of a performance taking place in the space. The website is useful for upcoming events as well. http://www.canova22.com/ (only in Italian).

Prati also showed us a picture of the street where the kiln is located, from the era. You can compare that (left) with the street today (right, below).

And if you want to stop by the café for a drink and sit amid the sculptures, go for it!

Caffé Canova Tadolini occupies the studio where Canova and his prize pupil, Adamo Tadolini, did their work. The baboon- (sort of) faced creature, or "babuino." gracing the fountain at left, is the one for which the street is named. Reviews suggest an espresso or glass of wine; skip the food.

Dianne

RST Top 40. #6: Villa Gregoriana

If you were in Rome and looking for a fine example of Italian baroque architecture, you would be wise to head for Francesco Borromini's San Carlo alle Quatro Fontane (San Carlo at the Four Fountains), for a look at that lovely, complex facade.

For the quintessence of Fascist monumentalism, you couldn't do better than the EUR (Esposizione Universale di Roma/Universal Rome Exposition) complex, where Italy's overblown imperial ambition is represented in the configuration of space and in almost every building. 



To capture the colorful exuberance of Art Nouveau, there's no place in Rome better than Galleria Sordi, on via del Corso. 

Tivoli, a town in the Alban Hills outside of Rome, has two such quintessential phenomena.  One of them, the Villa d'Este, is famous and a mainstay of area tourism; the other, Villa Gregoriana, is not so well known.  Yet Villa Gregoriana is in the RST Top 40--indeed, the RST Top 10--coming in at #6.  Da non perdere (not to be missed).

Actually, we recommend seeing Villa d'Este and Villa Gregoriana in tandem, because they're so different, separated from each other by almost three centuries (the Villa d'Este was built in the mid-16th century, Villa Gregoriana dates to 1826) and representing distinct ways of looking at nature and the world.  Although both are spectacular attractions, we've favored Villa Gregoriana because the 19th-century romantic perspective that it so perfectly captures--the visual equivalent of the poetry of Keats, Shelley, and Wordsworth--is rare in Rome, especially compared to the neo-classical perspective of the Villa d'Este.

The two villas are central to Itinerary 14 in Rome the Second Time, "Walking and Climbing Amid the Waters of Tivoli," where we provide guidance on how to get to Tivoli and what to take with you.  We also offer our own, non-guide-book interpretation of the contrasting meanings of the two villas:

"Villa d'Este is all about control, order, precision, repetition, and technology; one gets the sense here of human beings making water do tricks, of water engineers engaged in modern, scientific acts of manipulation, of nature bent to human will, to the logic of science. In contrast, Villa Gregoriana is about an apparent lack of control, about the power of water to erode and carve, about singularity rather than repetition, about a ferocious nature barely restrained.  Villa d'Este offers a lesson on the mind, a discourse on reason; Villa Gregoriana provides instructions on the body, on the spirit." 

And there's more. 

Bill