“La bellezza e l’ideale” at the Brera Art Gallery: a journey into the genius of Antonio Canova

From May 2025 to May 2026, the Pinacoteca di Brera hosts one of the most anticipated exhibitions of the year: "Beauty and the Ideal. The Canova Collection of Banca Ifis and the Traveling Art Gallery." This reconstitution exhibition, which will remain open until May 2026 in the newly renovated Room 1, is much more than a simple display of masterpieces: it represents an immersive journey into the genius of Antonio Canova, the history of his work, and the very vocation of Brera as a space for education, research, and cultural innovation. The initiative, curated by Chiara Rostagno and Valentina Ferrari, places twelve plaster busts, restored and made available by Banca Ifis, at the center of a narrative that intertwines art, memory, and patronage.

Canova's works, an absolute cornerstone of European Neoclassicism, find their natural home in Room 1. The redesign, the first since 2018, transforms the Brera museum into a narrative that respects tradition yet looks to the future. Among the twelve busts, created between 1807 and 1818 and originating from the family villa in Gherla, stand out casts of famous marbles such as the Italian Venus, Clio, Erato, Terpsichore, and Pax. Emblematic works such as Paris and Beatrice are also present, still featuring their "repères," metal studs used to measure marble—details that convey the technical precision and depth of Canova's sculptural practice.

Banca Ifis's intervention extends beyond restoration to promotion and accessibility through the Ifis Art project: the works arrive in Milan after visits to Lucca and Rome, ideally serving as a bridge between historical memory and cultural innovation. The busts of the Bonaparte sisters—Paolina, Carolina Murat, and Elisa Baciocchi—and their mother Letizia Ramolino unfold in a narrative that encompasses classicism, family mythologies, and evocations of power. The iconographic journey is completed by the return, after over a century, of the Vestal Virgin, the precious marble bust (dated 1818–1819), which finally returns to the Brera Museum as a centerpiece. Alongside these masterpieces, the exhibition also features a selection of enamel miniatures from the renowned collection of Giovanni Battista Sommariva, a neoclassical patron and collector, thanks to donations from Emilia Sommariva Seillière.

The exhibition's innovative value lies precisely in its ability to present sculpture as an integral part of the museum experience, transcending the idea of ​​Brera as a mere art gallery. The Pinacoteca Viaggiante project offers an opportunity to reflect on the role of patrons, the circulation of ideas and artistic languages, and the importance of the relationship between the public and cultural heritage. The choice to present plaster busts, some of which were rediscovered and restored after years of neglect, offers a new perspective on Canova's practice and the educational function that museum collections have always served for the Academy's students.

Scholars emphasize the centrality of the collaboration between Brera and Banca Ifis: this synergy not only allows for the physical recovery of the works but also strengthens the institutions' role in the aesthetic education of the community. The catalog published by Contemplazioni accompanies the exhibition with in-depth essays that highlight the thematic and technical richness of the busts, helping to bridge the gap between past and present in the narrative of Canova's greatness. The exhibition, conceived as a true journey through ideal beauty and the historical and social tensions of an era, offers viewers the opportunity to interpret Canova's legacy as a living instrument of dialogue, reflection, and growth.

The exhibition also offers a public opportunity to reconnect with the connection between artists, patrons, and institutions. The enamel reproductions from the Sommariva collection shed new light on Canova's collecting success, celebrated since the 19th century as the creator of a new universal language of beauty. The Pinacoteca di Brera's decision to display these works in Room 1 is not only a museological challenge, but also a declaration of faith in the educational and social value of art. Visitors are greeted, from the moment they enter, by a sequence of busts that invite exploration, comparison, and wonder.

The exhibition "Beauty and the Ideal" thus establishes itself as a junction between history and modernity, offering a privileged key to Canova's genius and his influence on the artistic development of subsequent generations. The ability of a private bank to support the preservation and promotion of culture, in collaboration with Italy's leading museums, finds its highest and most innovative expression here. The valorization of art as a common good is achieved through restoration, research, dissemination, and sharing, elements that make this project a virtuous and replicable model for the future.

The redesign of Room 1 becomes a manifesto of intent: the visit is conceived as a symbolic opening, an invitation to explore the history and culture of Brera with ever-new eyes. The dialogue between the plaster heads and the paintings, between the Vestal Virgin and the enameled miniatures, between the artist's gesture and the audience's vision, is the true driving force of the exhibition and the heart of the narrative that unfolds through the rooms. Elegant headboards, testimonies of devotion, and fragments of classicism coexist in a space designed to awaken questions, inspirations, and desires for the future.

"Beauty and the Ideal" marks a year of discoveries, events, and insights that will engage scholars, the public, and cultural professionals. Brera establishes itself as a laboratory, a meeting place, and a stage for memory, in harmony with the original vocation of the Milanese Enlightenment and the contemporary challenge of educating new generations in art, ethics, and cultural citizenship. The dialogue between Canova, his patrons, and the city is destined to shape us further, in a journey that restores the centrality of beauty as the horizon of life and thought.