The Rough Guide to Venice and the Veneto

The Gipsoteca and Casa Canova
The process by which Canova worked towards the final form of his sculptures was
a painstaking one, involving the creation of a series of rough clay models (bozzetti)
in which the general shape would be refined, then a full-scale figure in gypsum
plaster (gesso), and finally the replication of the plaster figure in marble, using small
nails to map the proportions and contours from the plaster model to the marble
statue. Preparatory works from all stages of Canova’s career are shown in the
Gipsoteca (May–Sept Tues–Sun 9am–12.30pm & 3–7pm; Oct–April Tues–Sat
9am–12.30pm & 2–6pm, Sun 2–6pm; e5; wwww.museocanova.it) in Piazza
Canova, and even if you’re repelled by the polish of the finished pieces, you’ll
probably be won over by the energy and spontaneity of the first versions – such
as the tiny terracotta model for the tomb of Pope Clement XIV, or the miniature
group of Adam and Eve weeping over the body of Abel.
Canova’s range will probably be as much of a surprise as his technique. Among
the works collected in the serene main hall, for example, you’ll find portraits,
images of classical heroes, the funerary monument for Maria Christina of Austria
(adapted by Canova’s pupils for his own tomb in Venice’s Frari), and a large Deposition,
a bronze version of which is to be found in the Tempio (see below). Notions
of Canova as a bloodless pedant are dispelled by two overpowering tableaux
of violence, each over 3m high – Hercules and Lichas and Theseus and the Centaur
– while the adjoining room, tastefully added in 1957 by Carlo Scarpa, displays
a more intimate and even erotic side, including a Sleeping Nymph and the famous
Graces. More models are kept in the adjoining house (the Casa Canova), but the
pleasure of this section of the museum is weakened by Canova’s paintings – a
parade of winsome Venuses and frolicking nymphs, which will not dispose you to
disagree with the artist’s own low opinion of his pictorial talents.
The Tempio
Donated to the town to serve as its new parish church, the Tempio (Tues–Sat:
April–Oct 9am–noon & 3–6pm; Nov–March 9am–noon & 2–5pm) was designed by
Canova with assistance from Giannantonio Selva (architect of La Fenice in Venice)
and constructed from 1819 to 1832. Both Roman and Greek classical sources were
plundered for its composition – the body of the building is derived from the Pantheon,
but its portico comes from the Parthenon. The cool precision of the interior is
disrupted by a sequence of dreadful paintings of the Apostles, and an appalling altarpiece
for which Canova himself was the culprit. To the right is the bronze version of
the Deposition in the Gipsoteca (cast posthumously in 1829), and opposite is the tomb
of Canova and his half-brother Monsignor G.B. Sartori, with a self-portrait bust to
the right. Designed by Canova for a different occupant, this tomb is not the Veneto’s
only memorial to the sculptor – the other one, infinitely more interesting, is in the
Frari in Venice. In good weather the sacristan opens the stairs to the top of the dome
(e1.30) – the view of the Asolean hills and the plain of the Piave is marvellous.
Ásolo and around
Known as “la città dei cento orizzonti” (the city with a hundred horizons), the
medieval walled town of ÁSOLO presides over a tightly grouped range of 27 gentle
peaks in the foothills of the Dolomites. Fruit trees and pastures cover the lower
slopes of the Asolean hills, and a feature of life in the town itself is the festivals that
take place at the various harvest times.
the northern veneto Ásolo and around
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