The bicentenary of Antonio Canova’s death was celebrated throughout the year 2022.

It is in this context that the Civic Museums of Bassano del Grappa, in collaboration with the Antonio Canova Gypsotheca Museum of Possagno and the Gallerie d'Italia of Vicenza, have organized/proposed an international study conference entitled The Universal Genius of Canova to celebrate the great sculptor. The event constituted an important moment of discussion between the national and international scientific community, bringing together leading experts to present the results of the most up-to-date research on the artist and the historical-artistic context in which he worked.

Edited by Fernando Mazzocca, Paola Marini, Xavier F. Salomon and Anne-Lise Desmas, the volume collects the texts of the interventions presented at the conference, which took place from 17 to 19 May 2022 in three prestigious locations: the Museo Civico of Bassano del Grappa, the Antonio Canova Gypsotheca Museum in Possagno and the Gallerie d'Italia - Palazzo Leoni Montanari in Vicenza. Thanks also to the collaboration of the Galleries of the Academy of Venice and the Correr Museum, also extraordinary places of Canova memories, the conference was the opportunity for a fruitful dialogue between these institutions in the name of an artist whose presence in the Veneto constitutes an identifying and unifying value.

The volume, published in Italian, collects and makes available the contributions of the illustrious scholars who were invited to participate in the event and of the institutions that contributed to its creation, in a publication of over 300 pages that celebrates, 200 years since his passing, the universal genius of Antonio Canova.

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