Details
Antonio CANOVA (1757-1822). Lettre autographe signée adressée à Daniele Francesconi, Rome, 9 Août 1806. Réfèrant à la paix conclue entre la Russie et Napoléon, et à la transformation du Palais des Doges en une nouvelle résidence royale. Il continue avec un compte rendu sur l'accueil favorable rendu par les 'migliori professori' pour sa nouvelle statue de Napoléon.
Autograph letter signed to Daniele Francesconi, Rome, 9 August 1806, referring to the terms of peace between Russia and Napoleon, and expressing his unhappiness at the prospect, announced in a decree from St Cloud, of the Doge's Palace in Venice being turned into the new residence for the king and the threatened acquisition of the Villa Pisani at Strà [in the Veneto], and continuing about his current commission for Napoleon, 24 lines on one page, 250 x 185 mm, integral address panel, traces of seal.
Canova's distaste for the invading power was tempered by a healthy pragmatism, with the result that the second part of the letter is concerned with his statue of Napoleon, which he records as nearly complete. He further states that it has been well received by those who have seen it ('pare che ne siano contenti i migliori professori che la hanno veduta'). The statue in question is presumably the colossal marble of the Emperor that was completed in August 1806 in Rome and exhibited in October; it subsequently reached Paris in 1811. It is now in the Wellington Museum at Apsley House, having been given to the Duke by the British government in 1815.
Autograph letter signed to Daniele Francesconi, Rome, 9 August 1806, referring to the terms of peace between Russia and Napoleon, and expressing his unhappiness at the prospect, announced in a decree from St Cloud, of the Doge's Palace in Venice being turned into the new residence for the king and the threatened acquisition of the Villa Pisani at Strà [in the Veneto], and continuing about his current commission for Napoleon, 24 lines on one page, 250 x 185 mm, integral address panel, traces of seal.
Canova's distaste for the invading power was tempered by a healthy pragmatism, with the result that the second part of the letter is concerned with his statue of Napoleon, which he records as nearly complete. He further states that it has been well received by those who have seen it ('pare che ne siano contenti i migliori professori che la hanno veduta'). The statue in question is presumably the colossal marble of the Emperor that was completed in August 1806 in Rome and exhibited in October; it subsequently reached Paris in 1811. It is now in the Wellington Museum at Apsley House, having been given to the Duke by the British government in 1815.