Antonio Canova: Poetry and Politics in Neoclassical Sculpture

Hailed by critics as "the new Phidias", Antonio Canova (1757–1822) is considered to be the greatest sculptor of the Neoclassical period, a core movement of the Enlightenment in the 18th century. 

Not just an aesthetic movement inspired by the art of ancient Greece and the Roman Empire, Neoclassicism also encompassed literature, philosophy and democracy. 

In this special presentation, art historian Roberta Crisci-Richardson will explore how Canova’s statues straddled Neoclassicism and Romanticism, infusing with poetry and emotion his reverence for the perfection of Greek art. Discover how his exquisite artworks of ideal beauty belonged in an international network of diplomatic relationships that were both the source of his patrician artistic patronage, and part and parcel of the liberal progressive politics that informed the rise of national revolutionary struggle for Greece in the 1820s.

One hour presentation plus Q&A. Tickets include general admission to the Hellenic Museum following the presentation.

About Roberta Crisci-Richardson

Roberta Crisci-Richardson is an art historian specialising in 19th- and 20th-century European art. She currently teaches the History and Theory of Art and Design at Federation University Australia, and has years of experience leading lectures and tours in museums and galleries.