The exhibition’s great attraction lies in comparing models with finished works, demonstrating that the modelling of clay is at the heart of the creative processes of sculpture. The exhibition aims to:
-- Examine the full range of Italian terracotta sculpture between 1400 and 1800, no other exhibition to date has presented such a panorama of works by sculptors including Ghiberti, Giambologna, Donatello, Verrocchio, Bernini and Canova.
-- Juxtapose terracotta models with finished works, thereby allowing people to compare for example, a clay portrait by Benedetto da Maiano from Berlin with the marble version from the Louvre. Together, they illustrate the changes between a sculptor’s initial concept and the final work.
Among the highlights of the exhibition are an important sequence of drawings and bozzetti by Bernini, focusing upon his Angels for the Ponte Sant’Angelo in Rome. Visitors will be able to compare six of these studies, brought together here for the first time. The exhibition also documents the development of one of Canova’s most admired works, the Penitent Magdalen. In this case, the artistic process is traced from first thoughts on paper to clay models and the finished marble, which was one of Canova's most contested works when exhibited in Paris in 1809. Terracottas are in certain cases linked to related drawings. Many are preliminary sketches and these are used, as in the case of Canova’s Mourning Figure from the Tomb of Maria Christine, to demonstrate the significance of the practice of copying and replication.
More than ninety items come from thirty-eight lenders in eight countries, including the Hermitage, the Louvre, the Museo di Palazzo Venezia in Rome, the Thyssen Collection of Lugano, the Skulpturensammlung in Berlin and the British Museum.
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