Fundraising to support the restoration of the three red wax models on slate of the Funeral Monument to Horatio Nelson, works that still hold the living sign of Antonio Canova’s ingenuity. These are extraordinarily valuable preparatory studies, preserved inside the Museo Gypsotheca Antonio Canova, through which the great master of Neoclassicism elaborated the Funeral Monument dedicated to Admiral Horatio Nelson, translating into allegorical images the themes of the birth, death and glory of a hero. Delicate and precious works, which time and the natural fragility of materials are slowly wearing away. Restoring them therefore means bringing to light an essential part of Canova’s creative process, preserving evidence of the way the artist conceived and developed his works before their final realization. In the neoclassical artistic language, in fact, red wax represented an ideal tool for shaping ideas: ductile and precise, it allowed sculptors to model insights and details.
The restoration project is a collaboration between the Gypsotheca Antonio Canova Museum in Possagno and the Fondazione Italia Patria della Bellezza, united by the common goal of protecting and enhancing Italy’s artistic heritage.
Today, the works have cracks and compromised fragments due to humidity, temperature changes and vibrations that, over time, have weakened the wax structure. The restoration will be carried out under the supervision of the Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio for the Provinces of Belluno, Padua and Treviso. Each phase of the intervention will be documented and conducted through conservation techniques that respect the authenticity of the works, with the aim of consolidating the surfaces, recovering detached fragments, protecting the slate support and the wooden frame, as well as restoring legibility and stability to the bas-reliefs.
Once the restoration is complete, these works will be displayed for the first time to the public in the exhibition Antonio Canova and the Monument to Horatio Nelson, scheduled from November 1, 2026 to April 25, 2027 at the Museo Gypsotheca Antonio Canova in Possagno.
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| Gypsotheca Antonio Canova Museum, fundraising kicks off to restore the three wax models of the Nelson Monument |
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