From 16 June to 22 November 2018, the Scuola Grande della Misericordia in Venice hosts Magister Canova (Possagno, 1757 - Venice, 1822), the first major multimedia exhibition to be devoted to the greatest sculptor of Neoclassicism, created with a scientific committee with a high international profile and the collaboration of the Fondazione Canova Gypsotheca and Museo Antonio Canova di Possagno. An interweaving of music, words and images with the extraordinary participation of Fabrizio Plessi, the voice of actor Adriano Giannini and music by cellist Giovanni Sollima.

Moving from the micro to the macro, Magister Canova accompanies the public on a journey of discovery of an inimitable human and artistic itinerary.

The exhibition route of Magister Canova winds its way through environments of major perceptive impact, scenographic reconstructions, deceptive views. Technology - at the disposal of art - offers visitors an unprecedented experience, where details, episodes, intervals of the broadest scope, are showcased and highlighted, to enable them to grasp the meaning of one of the most exciting creative processes in the history of European sculpture.

Accompanying the visit, an emotional tale recounted by Adriano Giannini’s voice and Giovanni Sollima’s cello. The exhibition moves from the micro to the macro, from Cupid and Psyche’s butterfly to the giant Hercules’s frenzy and Lichas’ terror, from the study of the anatomical drawings from the Biblioteca dell’Istituto Superiore di Sanità to the representation of the revolutionary process of creation defined by Canova. The narration continues from the great myths, the heroes carved in white marble, to the multi-colour temperas on dark backgrounds devoted to dance, to conclude with an environment completely devoted to one of the great Canova masterpieces, Paolina Borghese, portrayed by Canova as Venus Victrix.

On Scuola Grande della Misericordia’s ground floor, a site-specific installation by Fabrizio Plessi, an ideal journey in the mind of Antonio Canova, introduces the visit to an exhibition where show and detailed study, emotion and knowledge, blend together perfectly.