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Villa Carlotta Plaster Room - Click 'Details' for more information
The Plaster Room:
This room, on the right of the marble room, still maintains the atmosphere of Sommariva's age. On the walls are located six ornamental stucco panels with scenes of Cupids and Faunes by Camillo Pacetti (1758-1826); at the centre of the main wall a marble fireplace, work of Thorvaldsen's atelier, is decorated with The Triumph of Bacchus and Ariadne; above it, a bas-relief in stucco by Luigi Acquisti shows the Entrance of Francesco I in Vienna. It's the original model for the marble sculpture created for the minor opening of the Arch of Peace in Milan: the subject, originally the Entrance of Napoleon in Milan, was changed in 1816, after the new political situation. A military band with four elements, a group of infantrymen, the sovereign riding on horseback, officers and soldiers wearing ancient or contemporary clothes give to this work a surprising idea of rhythm.
The Muse Terpsichore by Antonio Canova (1757-1822) is the precious original plaster model made for the marble sculpture representing the muse of dance commissioned by Sommariva in 1811. Born as a portrait of Alexandrina Bleschamps, wife of Napoleon's brother, Lucien Bonaparte, the sculpture acquired a more idealized physiognomy following Sommariva's will. This plaster is a real masterpiece for the its plastic art, especially in the drapery; it's still nowadays characterized by the 'repère', small nails, very useful instruments in the creative process of Canova's art. With a sketch, the artist developed the idea of a sculpture; thanks to this first idea he realized two models, one in reduced scale, generally in terracotta and after this a bigger model that allowed him to deepen the study of the composition. The next step was the realization of a life-size model in clay and after this the definitive model, in plaster; in the key-points of such a model some small nails were hammered in, in order to give to the Canova's scholars the necessary points of reference to copy the sculpture in the marble. The hard work done, Canova finished the sculpture.