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Indepth Arts News: "Earth and Fire: Italian Terracotta Sculpture From Donatello To Canova" 2002-03-14 until 2002-07-07 Victoria and Albert Museum London, , UK
A masterful control of material and a superb sense of artistry make Italian terracotta one of
the most alluring and expressive art forms in history. 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 will break new ground in several
important respects: Examining 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. It will offer a
unique opportunity to juxtapose terracotta models with finished works. This will allow 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 will be an important
sequence of drawings and bozzetti by Bernini, focusing upon his Angels for the Ponte
Sant’Angelo in Rome. Audiences 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 will in certain
cases be linked to related drawings. Many are preliminary sketches and these will be 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. Earth and Fire also features works
expressly restored for the exhibition and will highlight the strengths of the VandA's Renaissance
sculpture collections, the most extensive outside of Italy. 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. This unparalleled collection of objects makes Earth and Fire a
landmark event. The Italian group Pirelli SpA is to support the conservation of eight objects
from the VandA's world-famous collection of Italian terracotta sculptures. A number of these
sculptures will be on display as part of the exhibition Earth and Fire.
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A selection of terracotta sculptures by an outstanding range of Italian masters will be on
display in the V&A’s spring exhibition Earth and Fire. Documenting for the first time
terracotta’s importance across the glory years of the Renaissance to the age of
Neoclassicism, Earth and Fire focuses attention on terracotta works in ways which have
never before been possible.