Giorgio Washington. Alla grande Nazione degli Stati Uniti di America. Antonio Canova D.D.D.

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  SKU: 101193

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• ARTIST: Antonio Canova

• MEDIUM: Engraving,

  DATE: 1819.

• EDITION SIZE: Plate size 17 1/2 x 12 3/4" (44.5 x 32.2 cm) plus margins.

• DESCRIPTION: Ant. Canova inv. e scolpi (original sculpted by). G. Tognoli dis. Ang. Bertini inc. (engraved by). “Statua in marmot alquanto maggiore del natural, desinata ad esser posta nella Sala del Senato di Carolina in America” inscribed in lower left.<br><br> This life-size marble statue of George Washington, done in the style of the Roman statesman Cincinnatus was sculpted by the Venetian-Italian Neoclassical sculptor Antonio Canova. Commissioned by the State of North Carolina in 1815, it was completed in 1820 and installed in the rotunda of the North Carolina State House on December 24, 1821. The building and the statue were destroyed by fire on June 21, 1831.<br><br> In December 1815, the House of Commons and the Senate of North Carolina unanimously resolved to commission a full-length statue of Washington. Governor William Miller, with the assistance and recommendation of Thomas Jefferson, determined that Canova should be the sculptor and that Thomas Appleton, American consul in Livorno, Italy, should handle the negotiations. Washington had died in 1799, and Jefferson recommended that Canova use the marble bust of Washington by Giuseppe Ceracchi as a model for the head.<br><br> Canova started work on the statue at his studio in Rome in 1817, completing several sketches and maquettes (also described as modellos or bozzettos). He finished the statue in 1820. Only the the modello, or full-scale plaster version, that served as the proof for Canova’s lost marble survives.<br><br> Antonio Canova (1757-1822) Italian Neoclassical sculptor, famous for his marble sculptures. Often regarded as the greatest of the Neoclassical artists. His sculpture was inspired by the Baroque and the classical revival, and has been characterised as having avoided the melodramatics of the former, and the cold artificiality of the latter.<br><br>

• ADDITIONAL INFO: A scarce and unusual portrait of Washington.

• CONDITION: Good condition. Faint stain off of left knee. B/W.

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• CATEGORIES: 18th-19th Century Subjects , Portraits , Presidents