We are delighted to announce our Summer Lecture in collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute of London.  

One of the last projects of the great Neoclassical sculptor Antonio Canova (1757–1822) was a monumental gesso horse (Cavallo Colossale), commissioned as part of a planned equestrian monument for Ferdinand I, King of Naples. It suffered an ignominious fate: damaged and eventually dismantled, it was placed in storage in the 1960s and remained there, until today. The Venice in Peril Fund is proud to have supported the conservation of the Cavallo Colossale, returning it to its spectacular glory. To mark this important occasion and in collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute, we are delighted to be hosting an evening dedicated to Canova’s masterpiece.

Barbara Guidi, Director of the Musei Civici at Bassano del Grappa — which houses the Cavallo Colossale — and Christopher Baker, Editor of The Burlington Magazine, will discuss the conservation’s remarkable story, Canova’s position as the leading artist of his day, and his inspiration and technical mastery. The evening will also premiere a short documentary charting the project’s journey from multiple fragments to exhibition centrepiece — and the horse’s eventual return home to Bassano del Grappa.