Canova’s Colossal Horse to be pieced back together

A monumental plaster horse by Antonio Canova is being put back together 50 years after it was dismantled and placed in storage at the Museo Civico in Bassano del Grappa in the province of Vicenza, northeastern Italy. The museum director who had it taken down in 1969 planned to move it to another location in the museum while its previous location underwent structural repairs, but the plans never came to fruition. Only the horse’s head has been on display in the five decades since.

The Cavallo Colossale (Colossal Horse) was one of the last works by the great Neoclassical sculptor, created between 1819 and 1821 as a model for a bronze equestrian statue of King of Naples Ferdinand I (IV) of Bourbon. It is unique for its monumental size and for its green paint, applied by order of Canova himself to give the impression of a bronze patina so he could better envision the finished piece. Sadly, that turned out to be as close as he would ever get to finishing. Canova was only able to complete the model of the horse before his death in October 1822, not the rider and of course not the actual bronze.

After Canova died, the Colossal Horse remained in his studio in Rome until his half-brother and sole heir Giovanni Battista Sartori donated it along with numerous plaster casts, autographed drawings, correspondence and sketches to the Civic Museum in Bassano del Grappa. Another gesso model of an equestrian statue, a monument to Charles III, was among the donated works. The Colossal Horse and the Charles III model went on display within sight of each other, the former in the southern Canova Hall, the latter in the north hall. The Charles III horse was obliterated when an allied bomb hit the museum on April 24, 1945, but the Colossal Horse survived unscathed.

The same cannot be said for its long sojourn in storage. The dismantling of the horse damaged the plaster, and then the parts suffered additional damage when they were moved around to different storage rooms over the years. The restoration project aims to repair the damage, consolidate the fragments and create a new internal armature to support the structure as the original iron structure corroded.

The new support structure will make use of cutting-edge techniques and technologies, in full respect of the original materials and, together with four metal support rods, positioned similarly to the original ones, will collaborate on the statics of the large plaster. The design of the structures was conceived in anticipation of future maintenance, and above all of possible loans and movements of the work.

To complement the restoration, the painted and plaster surfaces will be cleaned, consolidated, filled in for gaps and painted retouching will be carried out , always respecting the constituent materials, using products compatible with the original artifact. Finally, the project includes the construction of a technologically advanced base that will not only support the large plaster but also isolate and protect it from the stresses of the surrounding environment, even in the event of high seismic stresses.

All of the phases of the restoration will be documented with video and live streams on the museum’s website.