From tomorrow until 27th February 2011 the Palazzo Zabarella in Padua will be hosting the exhibition, “Da Canova a Modiglaini - il volto dell’Ottocento” [“From Canova to Modigliani – the Face of the Nineteenth Century”].
Barely a century separates the productive periods of the two artists but in those years the world saw great changes which are evident in the portraiture of the time.
Antonio Canova idealised the powerful people he sculpted but the artists who followed him began to paint and sculpt portraits of ordinary, middle class people, either in poses or going about their everyday activities. These portraits, in turn, influenced the development of the cinema, particularly directors like Visconti. The portraits tell life stories, depicting the pain, passion, vitality and personalities of their subjects as well as indicating their state of mind.
These are characters that could have been found in the pages of works by Stendhal or D’Annunzio.
Modigliani, by elongating the forms of his subjects, brought a new, psychological dimension to portraiture and, according to the art critic Edward Lucie-Smith, formed a bridge between the generation of Toulouse-Lautrec and the Art Deco artists of the 1920s.
Other artists whose works feature in the exhibition are: Appiani, Hayez, Boldini, Boccioni, Bertolini, Ingres, Fattori, Lega, Ranzoni, Tito, Balla and Severini.
Useful Information
Da Canova a Modigliani – il volto dell’Ottocento
Palzazzo Zabarella, Padova
2.10.10 – 27.2.11
Open every day, 09.30 – 19.30.
Entrance fee: €10.00
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