Exhibitions
Ideal Heads (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford till 14 Sept)
Canova the diplomat
Bruce Boucher
When the Ashmolean Museum announced an appeal to raise three quar- ters of a million pounds for a bust by Cano- va, many doubted whether the game was worth the candle. After all, the protracted comedy of the 'Three Graces' had only recently concluded with joint ownership awarded to the V&A and the National Gallery of Scotland, and Canova fatigue was bound to set in. Thanks, however, to dogged persistence and a last-minute arti- cle by James Fenton in the Times, the Ash- molean snatched their 'Ideal Head' from export late last year, and she is now queen- ing it in a well-focused exhibition which brings together three similar busts from Apsley House, the Kimbell Museum in Texas and a private collection.
Imaginary portraits were a genre dear to neo-classical artists, and they periodically engaged Antonio Canova over his long and illustrious career. The four busts currently on show in Oxford are important not only for aesthetic reasons, but also as souvenirs of a curious episode in diplomacy following Napoleon's final defeat in 1815. Pope Pius VII dispatched Canova to Paris to help recover art treasures seized by the French in 1797, and the sculptor found his strongest supporters among the British government.
After weeks of arduous negotiations, agreement was reached and works like the `Apollo Belvedere', 'Medici Venus', and the 'Horses of San Marco' began their return voyage to Italy. Canova decided to commemorate the event by sending marble busts to the four men whose support mat- tered most: the Duke of Wellington, the Foreign Secretary Castlereagh, Sir Charles Long and William Richard Hamilton, from whose descendants the Ashmolean's was purchased.
If Wellington and Castlereagh seem obvious recipients, why did Canova bother with Long and Hamilton? The reasons are not entirely clear although Long was pay- master of the army of occupation and played the role of an eminence grise. Hamil- ton cut a humbler figure as an assistant to Castlereagh but struck up a rapport with Canova, facilitating behind-the-scene deals and becoming the sculptor's friend. Hamil- ton's bust has the most fulsome inscription and outshines the others in facture and sheer beauty.
Seeing them together for the first time, one can appreciate the extent to which the four are variations on a single theme, mix- ing elements from several classical models without being specifically indebted to any. Canova saw himself as part of an artistic tradition that went back to the antique but also stemmed from the Venetian School, of which he considered himself the heir. His greatness lay in transcending mere imita- tion, and he endowed his best works with a warmth and accessibility not to be found in Greek sculpture.
Ideal Heads offers many insights into the sculptor's working procedure, none more fascinating that the question of surface patination. Canova was also fond of toning down the surface of his sculptures by apply- ing a simple wash, imparting a golden hue to the marble. This ran contrary to the high neo-classical vogue for dazzling white sur- faces, and the difference between the Ash- molean, Apsley House and Castlereagh heads and the newly cleaned Long bust from the Kimbell endorses Canova's theo- ries about tinting marble, for the Kimbell bust looks like a blanched almond by com- parison with the others, its nuances lost in a cadaverous pallor. At the same time, the four busts display Canova's extraordinary technique and his ability to rival painters in creating elaborate coiffures that only the bravest of sculptors could contemplate. The exhibition is rounded out by a selec- tion of busts and paintings illustrating the main protagonists, a plaster copy from the Partheon frieze, and even Canova's monu- mental visiting card, all set off by the hand- somely restored Chambers Hall gallery of the museum. If any still doubt the impor- Head of a Dancer, 1816, by Canova, the Wellington Museum, Apsley House tance of the 'Ideal Heads' or the appropri- ateness of the Ashmolean as the home for the finest of them, they will find their road to Damascus by journeying to Oxford.
Previous page
