The catalogue of the exhibition which, besides retracing the genesis and creation of the sculpture of Pauline Bonaparte, is a broader undertaking, divided into six sections of which the two first are intended to illustrate the complex relationship between Canova and Prince Camillo Borghese and between Canova and the Bonaparte family.
The catalogue of the exhibition which, besides retracing the genesis and creation of the sculpture of Pauline Bonaparte, is a broader undertaking, divided into six sections of which the two first are intended to illustrate the complex relationship between Canova and Prince Camillo Borghese and between Canova and the Bonaparte family, for whom he developed the particular model of a divinized sculptural portrait. The other sections retrace the principal phases in Canova’s career, exploring the fundamental and original relationship between the artist and classical antiquity through a group of forty drawings, sketches, marbles and many other works, all bound up with his continuous reworking of the theme of Venus. In this way it succeeds in showing that the sculpture of Pauline Bonaparte was a fundamental work in the creative development of the artist. It also compares Canova’s marbles with the ancient works on which he drew for inspiration. Finally, the last section is devoted to the critical reception of the sculpture of Pauline Bonaparte through the work of great sculptors such as Bartolini and Tenerani or painters such as Ingres and Hayez.