Antonio Canova (1757-1822), e l'arte de' suoi tempi La vita italiana durante la Rivoluzione francese e l'Impero

In a vivid panorama of Italy’s turbulent years, the book opens with a series of 1896 lectures that weave together the political upheavals of the French Revolution, the rise of the Empire, and the shifting social fabric of the peninsula. By drawing on the voices of scholars, poets, and statesmen, it sketches how everyday life was reshaped by new ideas, while the language of art struggled to keep pace with a world in flux.

Against this backdrop, the narrative turns to the young sculptor Antonio Canova, whose early encounters with ancient marble in Venice ignited a lifelong quest for a purer, more natural form of beauty. Amid the clash between baroque excess and a renewed Classicist fervor, the book follows Canova’s development as he balances reverence for antiquity with his own fresh vision, offering listeners a richly textured portrait of an artist emerging at a crossroads of history, philosophy, and creative renewal.