Neoclassicism reimaged: Canova’s Colossal Horse restored in Milan.

 MILAN- This Winter, Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo has partnered with the City of Milan and the Bibliothèque Nationale de France to present its newest exhibition, “Eterno e visione. Roma e Milano capitali del Neoclassicismo.”

 This exhibition, a landmark moment in 21st-century Milan, features the long-awaited restoration and full reassembly of Antonio Canova’s Colossal Horse after fifty years in storage. Curated by Francesco Leone, Elena Lissoni and Fernando Mazzocca, the exhibition is housed at the firm’s Gallerie d’Italia museum. It traces the artistic development of Rome and Milan in the Napoleonic era across ten thematic pathways, exploring the personal and creative histories of Italian masters, with each path flowing towards the heart of the exhibition, the Salone Scala. 

 Featuring more than 100 works from both private collections and the Instesa Sanpaolo archives, the exhibition evokes a crucial moment in Italian and European visual culture, as states vied to expand their borders and modernise their armies amid a resurgence of neoclassicism and its portrayal of beauty, artistic skill and national identity. The rise of neoclassical art throughout Napoleonic era art reflects the significance of logic, order and a divine right to power, illustrating how these values shaped creative innovation and expression.

 The Colossal Horse serves as the centrepiece of the exhibition, a bridge between the contemporary resurgence in neoclassicism and rapid technological developments, which have modernised restoration techniques and renewed interest in human artistic innovation. 

 A monumental plaster model painted to resemble bronze, the sculpture was originally conceived as the preparatory model for an equestrian statue commissioned by Ferdinand I, the King of Naples. Following the death of Canova in 1822, the  bronze casting was never completed. The plaster model was later donated to the Museum of Bassano in 1849, where it remained on view until in the late 1960s. 

 For over half a century, the statue had remained in storage, broken down into more than two hundred tiny fragments, each which required specialised monitoring and restoration.  

 This was a restoration project as colossal in effort as it is in name. Thanks to this massive restoration effort, visitors can once again admire the work of one of Italy’s finest masters of the Napoleonic era.

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