Canonica the sculptor
“The aim of the artist is to study truth in its purest form, concentrating the greatest possible emotion on it”, with these words Canonica declared his predilection for an art capable of idealising and yet at the same time expressing the most secret motions of the soul. In his sculptures he combines the proportions and balance of classical art, the refined models of fifteenth century Florentine work, the lightness of touch of neoclassicism, Romantic disquietude and nineteenthcentury sensibility.
Gifted with an absolute mastery of technique and great ability and speed in working the material, he received commissions from the aristocracy of all Europe, who sought after his refined taste and idealization. Although these were the years of the historical avant guarde, Canonica continued to create “classical” art, remaining faithful to his image of himself and his own instinct to trust in “beauty”.
