Venus in the Lands of Antonio Canova

The Gypsotheca e Museo Antonio Canova in Possagno is the museum where visitors can see Canova’s birth house and a full collection of his sculptures and gessos.

It is hard to describe the astonishment one feels entering the Gallery when they are surrounded by hundreds of sculptures: gods, heroes, muses and lovers from Greek mythology and portraits of princes, kings, emperors and state-men such as, for example, George Washington.

Because of its rich collection of plaster models, today this museum constitutes a necessary reference point for all the museums in the world that jealously preserve the marble masterpieces, expressions of Canova great talent.

Through the Antonio Canova project Friends of Venice Italy Inc. and Venice International Foundation have financed the Venus in the lands of Antonio Canova exhibition (September 2015-June 2016) organized in Possagno, Asolo and Crespano del Grappa, villages close related with Canova’s life and family. The Canova project continued by the funding of two important masterpieces: the restoration of a series of tempera paintings and the fixing of the roof of the so called “New building gallery” designed by the well famous architect Carlo Scarpa in the fifties.